LOW REACTIVE LEVEL LASER THERAPY IN THE TREATMENT OF POST HERPETIC NEURALGIA

Abstract

Post herpetic neuralgia (PHN) can be an extremely painful condition which in many cases proves resistant to all the accepted forms of treatment. It is frequently most severe in the elderly and may persist for years with no predictable course. Since 1980, we have been applying low reactive level laser therapy (LLLT) for patients with PHN. We report herein on the results of a retrospective study concerning those patients in whom LLLT has been applied for pain attenuation of PHN. One hundred and twenty-three patients (73 male, 50 female, mean age: 66.11yr) have received LLLT for various entities of PHN over the past 29 years. In these cases the affected tissue area(s) was as follows: thorax and back (48 cases); head and neck (41 cases); abdomen and lumbar (17 cases); upper limb (9 cases); and lower limb (8 cases). The overall total improvement rate was 60.16%. Patient whose treatment was given within six month of onset obtained the highest improvement rate (mean, 76.34%). LLLT was effective for PHN in the acute and chronic phase, but LLLT was particularly effective for the acute phase patients whose onset before treatment was 6 months or less. The results demonstrate a significant reduction in PHN pain intensity, hypersensitivity and other complaints