A case of herpetic zoster pain relieved by iontophoresis with ropivacaine

Abstract

A 58-year-old man had herpetic zoster pain in the right Th 7-9 dermatomes. He had a history of leukemia and had undergone peripheral blood stem cell transplantation 9 months prior to the onset of zoster symptoms. He was admitted to our hospital and treated by patient-controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA). After 10 days, myositis appeared and PCEA was discontinued. The herpetic pain was controlled by iontophoresis of ropivacaine for 40 days till he was diagnosed as having chronic GVHD and recovered from it.