Clinical Effect of Repeated Shallow Needling with Fire Needle Combined with Zishen Qinggan Decoction in the Treatment of Herpes Zoster and Its Impact on T Lymphocyte Subsets

QIAO Yanling; WANG Yu; YAN Zhihui; YUAN Pengfei; PAN Shuhe; CHEN Jianhua

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1002-3429.2024.01.023

Abstract：Objective To explore the clinical effect of the combination of repeated shallow needling with fire needle and Zishen Qinggan decoction in the treatment of herpes zoster and its impact on T lymphocyte subsets.Methods A total of 94 patients with herpes zoster treated from February 2021 to June 2023 were selected.According to the random number table method,they were divided into a control group and an observation group,with 47 cases in each group.On the basis of the conventional treatment,the control group was treated with repeated shallow needling with fire needle,while the observation group was treated with Zishen Qinggan decoction on the basis of the control group.Clinical efficacy and evaluation indicators for herpes skin lesion healing(blister stop time,scab formation time,scab removal time)were compared between the two groups,and pain relief before treatment and at 1,2,3,5,and 10 days after treatment[Visual Analog Scale(VAS)score],as well as peripheral blood T lymphocyte subsets(CD3+,CD4+,CD8+,CD4+/CD8+)before and after treatment were observed.The incidence of postherpetic neuralgia was recorded.Results After treatment,the total effective rate of the obser-vation group was95.74%(45/47),which was higher than that in the control group[80.85%(38/47)](P＜0.05).The observation group had shorter blister arrest time,scab formation time,and scab removal time than the control group(P＜0.05).At1,2,3,5,and10 days after treatment,the VAS scores of both groups were lower than those before treatment(P＜0.05),and with the prolongation of treatment time,the VAS scores of both groups showed a continuous downward trend.The VAS score of the observation group at 3,5,and 10 days after treatment was lower than that of the control group(P＜0.05).After treatment,the levels of CD8+in both groups were significantly reduced compared to before treatment,while CD4+/CD8+,CD4+,and CD3+were significantly increased compared with those before treatment.Moreover,the obser-vation group showed significantly higher or lower levels of CD4+/CD8+,CD3+,CD4+,and CD8+,as compared with the control group(P＜0.05).At one month after treatment,the incidence of postherpetic neuralgia in the observation group was 10.64%(5/47),which was lower than that in the control group[25.53%(12/47)](P＜0.05).Conclusion The combination of repeated shallow needling with fire needle and Zishen Qinggan decoction can promote the convergence and scabbing of blisters in the treatment of herpes zoster,quickly alleviate neuralgia symptoms,improve peripheral blood T lym-phocyte subsets,reduce the incidence of postherpetic neuralgia,and further improve clinical efficacy.