Analgesic efficacy and mechanisms of pulsed radiofrequency on the thoracic dorsal root ganglia combined with drug therapy in elderly patients with severe postherpetic neuralgia
LI Hongyan
ZHANG Jianhua
ZHAO Xiaodong
XU Ziqiang
Abstract：Objective To investigate the analgesic effect and underlying mechanisms of pulsed radiofrequency(PRF)on the thoracic dorsal root ganglia combined with medication in the treat-ment of elderly patients with severe postherpetic neuralgia(PHN).Methods A total of 121 eld-erly patients with PHN in our hospital from October 2022 to October 2024 were enrolled.They were divided into an observation group and a control group according to different treatment meth-ods.The control group(61 cases)was treated with oral pregabalin and conventional medications,while the observation group(60 cases)received additional PRF on the thoracic dorsal root ganglia on the basis of the treatment given to the control group.Both groups were treated for 12 weeks.The visual analogue scale(VAS)scores and 36-item short form health survey(SF-36)scores were compared between the two groups after 1,4,8,and 12 weeks of treatment.The serum levels of interferon-gamma(IFN-γ),interleukin-4(IL-4),interleukin-10(IL-10),substance P(SP),and neurokinin-1(NK-1)before and after the treatment were compared between the two groups.Results After 1,4,8,and 12 weeks of treatment,both the VAS scores and SF-36 scores in the two groups significantly improved from baseline(P＜0.05).The VAS scores of the observation group were lower than those of the control group(P＜0.05),while the SF-36 scores were higher than those of the control group(P＜0.05).After the treatment,the serum levels of IL-10,SP,and NK-1 in both groups were significantly lower than their baseline levels(P＜0.05),and the levels of IL-10,SP,and NK-1 in the observation group were lower than those in the control group(P＜0.05).However,serum levels of IFN-γ and IL-4 did not differed signifi-cantly between the two groups.Conclusions For elderly patients with severe PHN,pulsed radio-frequency on the thoracic dorsal root ganglia,combined with medication,has a significant anal-gesic effect and greatly improves the quality of life.Its mechanisms may be related to inhibiting the inflammatory response,regulating neurotransmitters,and blocking the transmission of pain signals.
Keywords：postherpetic neuralgiapulsed radiofrequencypregabalinthe elderly
Publication Date：2025-10-28
Online Publishing Date：2025-11-20(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：6( 709-714 )