Effect of repeated irradiation of low-power He-Ne laser in pain relief from postherpetic neuralgia.
In order to investigate the efficacy of repeated irradiation of low-power helium-neon laser in pain relief, we irradiated 36 outpatients suffering from postherpetic neuralgia. Each patient underwent 20 trials of irradiation on several points around the painful area at a frequency of 2 or 3 times a week. The efficacy of the laser at the end of 20 trials was noticed on 88.9%, and the degree of pain relief was 55.3%, which correlated with the number of trials. These results suggest that the irradiation of He-Ne laser is an effective and safe treatment for postherpetic neuralgia.
Iijima
K
K
Department of Anesthesiology, Chiba University School of Medicine, Japan.
Shimoyama
N
N
Shimoyama
M
M
Yamamoto
T
T
Shimizu
T
T
Mizuguchi
T
T
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006371:Helium; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D007834:Lasers; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009356:Neon; D009437:Neuralgia / Q000209:etiology / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D010045:Outpatients; D010147:Pain Measurement
D006371:Helium; D009356:Neon