Gabapentin combined with nerve block in the treatment of AIDS/HIV elderly patients with craniofa- cial postherpetic trigeminal neuralgia

Abstract

Objective To observe the effect of gabapentin combined with nerve block in the treatment of craniofacial postherpetic trigeminal neuralgia (PHN) in the elderly patients with AIDS. Methods Twen- ty-five craniofacial PHN elderly patients with AIDS were randomly divided into group G (n=12) and group GN(n=13). The patients in group G were treated with oral gabapentin 600-1 800 mg/d, and group GN received the same dosage gabapentin combined with trigeminal block and injection in the skin lesion area 1-2 times pre week. The treatment continued 4 weeks. The adverse reaction was observed. VAS was recorded before treat- ment and at 1, 2, 3 and 4 weeks after the treatment and the results was evaluated. Results Compared with pre- treatment, VAS of all patients decreased significantly after the treatment (P<0.05). VAS in group GN decreased significantly at different time points after the treatment (P<0.05), which was more than that in group G (P< 0.05). The rate of excellent and good effect in group GN (46.2%, 53.8%, 84.6%, 92.3%) was higher than that in group G (33.3%, 41.7%, 50.0%, 83.3%)(P<0.05) at different time points after the treatment. Serious adverse re- actions were not found. Conclusion Oral gabapentin combined with trigeminal block in the elderly AIDS pa- tients is an effective and safe way in the treatment of craniofacial postherpetic trigeminal neuralgia with no seri- ous adverse reactions. Key words: Acquired immune deficiency syndrome; Gabapentin; Nerve block; Postherpetic neu- ralgia