title: Treatment of postherpetic neuralgia using DREZotomy guided by spinal cord stimulation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) is the most common complication following an episode of acute herpes zoster. The curative effect of current treatments is limited.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this paper is to report a new treatment for PHN with a combination of dorsal root entry zone lesion (DREZotomy) and spinal cord stimulation (SCS).
  
  
  METHODS
  Microsurgical DREZotomy assisted with SCS for target localization was performed in 6 patients with PHN. A visual analog scale (VAS) was used to evaluate the pain pre- and postoperatively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Except for 1 patient, in whom the test SCS was unsatisfactory, all patients finally underwent DREZotomy. These 5 patients experienced apparent symptom relief postoperatively, and the VAS score decreased from a baseline of 8.4 ± 1.14 to 2.4 ± 1.14 (p = 0.0020) and did not change significantly during the follow-up of up to 24 months.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Microsurgical DREZotomy assisted with SCS for target localization is an effective remedy for PHN.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, XinHua Hospital, Shanghai JiaoTong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Ming-Xing
authors.initials: MX
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.forename: Ning-Ning
authors.initials: NN
authors.lastname: Dou
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006562:Herpes Zoster; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008866:Microsurgery / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D016343:Monitoring, Intraoperative / Q000379:methods*; D051474:Neuralgia, Postherpetic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000628:therapy*; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000379:methods; D011859:Radiography; D062187:Spinal Cord Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome