Post herpetic neuralgia: use of streptomycin preliminary report

ABSTRACT

Many treatment modalities have been tried for post-herpetic neuralgia without proving to be specific or reliable. Aminoglycosides, due to their different effects on cellular functions, have been successfully tried in trigeminal neuralgia and various neuropathic pains. At the Pain Centre, Combined Military Hospital, Karachi, intercostal block with 1g streptomycin in 2ml of 2% lignocaine was used on alternate days in 16 patients of post-herpetic neuralgia with favourable results. Of the 16 patients, 9 found the treatment helped to reduce the severity of pain, while in 7 complete pain relief was achieved. These initial results are encouraging and worthy of further investigation