Korean J Anesthesiol.  2005 Oct;49(4):518-522. 10.4097/kjae.2005.49.4.518.

Intrathecal Triamcinolone for Intractable Postherpetic Neuralgia

• Lim KI
• Kim KH
• Lee CY

• KMID: 1936854
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4097/kjae.2005.49.4.518

Abstract

BACKGROUND: There is no effective treatment for intractable postherpetic neuralgia. Some reports noticed effectiveness of intrathecal steroid administration which was injected at L2/3, L3/4 interspace. We tried the same procedure but injection site was differed to reduce the steroid dose. And then we evaluated the effectiveness and neurologic complications.
METHODS
We studied 9 patients with postherpetic neuralgia. The patients received intrathecal triamcinolone and mepivacaine (2ml of 0.5% mepivacaine with 15 mg of triamcinolone). Each weekly dose was injected into the lesion site or near the site. Pain was evaluated 1 week, 1 month and then more than 3 months after the treatment.
RESULTS
We found that pain intensity was decreased by 69.7% one week after the treatment, by 70% 3-9 months after the treatment. During the treatment, all patients except two took analgesics but did not at the end of treatment.
CONCLUSIONS
The results of this trial indicated that the intrathecal administration of triamcinolone was effective for postherpetic neuralgia pain management.

Keyword

intrathecal injection; postherpetic neuralgia

MeSH Terms

Analgesics
Humans
Injections, Spinal
Mepivacaine
Neuralgia, Postherpetic*
Pain Management
Triamcinolone*
Analgesics
Mepivacaine
Triamcinolone