Is fire needle superior to Western medication for herpes zoster? A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Objective: To compare the effectiveness of fire needle versus Western medicine in the treatment of herpes zoster. Methods: Randomized controlled trials comparing fire needle with Western medicine in the treatment of herpes zoster were identified using 8 databases. A meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3 software. Results: Eight trials involving 569 patients were included in this meta-analysis, and the results showed that fire needle was superior to Western medicine comparing the effective rate [risk ratio (RR)=1.13, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.06 to 1.20; P=0.0002], the visual analog scale (VAS) score [mean difference (MD)=−7.95, 95% CI: −10.71 to −5.20; P<0.00001], time of pain disappearance (MD=−7.61, 95%CI: −9.38 to −5.84; P<0.00001), time of blister-stop (MD=−1.34, 95%CI: −1.51 to −1.18; P<0.00001), time of crusted scab (MD=−2.92, 95%CI: −3.62 to −2.23; P<0.00001), and time of scab off (MD=−4.64, 95%CI: −5.83 to −3.46; P<0.00001). In addition, a significantly lower incidence of postherpetic neuralgia was found in the fire needle group in 30 d (RR=0.23, 95%CI: 0.11 to 0.51; P=0.0002) and 60 d (RR=0.33, 95%CI: 0.12 to 0.91; P=0.03) after treatment. Conclusion: Fire needle has a favorable effect in increasing the effective rate, relieving pain, recovering skin lesions and decreasing incidence of postherpetic neuralgia in the treatment of herpes zoster. However, considering the limitations in this study, the findings should be interpreted cautiously.