Acupuncture for the pain of postherpetic neuralgia: A scoping review

Objectives

To summarize the available evidence of acupuncture for pain relief in the patients with postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) using a scoping review.

Methods

Seven electronic databases of the original studies of acupuncture on PHN were retrieved. The search time was from the inception to May 1, 2021. Two researchers screened the title, abstract and full text of each article independently. The original studies that was met the inclusion criteria were collected and analyzed, and finally presented with a qualitative description.

Results

A total of 216 original studies were eligible and all of them were randomized controlled trials. The acupuncture therapies with the highest use frequency included manual acupuncture, pricking and cupping and electroacupuncture. Acupuncture therapies were mostly combined with other interventions in studies. There were large differences in acupoint selection, time duration for single treatment and the total treatment times. It was believed in all of the included studies that acupuncture was effective of pain relief in PHN and 85.65% of the studies obtained the minimum clinical importance difference (MCID), suggesting the clinical effectiveness. The adverse reaction of acupuncture was low in its incidence, and mostly transient in occurrence.

Conclusion

The study type of acupuncture for PHN is relatively simple. Most studies show the advantages of acupuncture in pain relief of PHN. The quality of study needs to be improved.