ABSTRACT
Postherpetic neuralgia is one of the most common, but also one of the most difficult conditions to treat. This condition mainly involves trigeminal, intercostal and sciatic nerves and the brachial plexus area. It mostly appears in patients older than 60 years. Although pain is a transient condition, the pain of postherpeutic neuralgia may become intractable, disabling an may decrease the quality of the patient's life. We studied 30 patients affected by ophthalmic postherpetic neuralgia, appearing, some months after fronto-orbital cutaneous eruption. All patients received nicardipine retard, decreasing gradually, 40 mg/day for 2 weeks. The monitoring of pain was performed using the visual analogue score of Scott-Huskissonn. The results show an improvement in 'pain relief'.
Subject(s)
Calcium Channel Blockers/therapeutic use , Neuralgia/drug therapy , Nicardipine/therapeutic use , Ophthalmic Nerve/drug effects , Acyclovir/therapeutic use , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Analgesics/therapeutic use , Antiviral Agents/therapeutic use , Female , Herpes Zoster Ophthalmicus/complications , Herpes Zoster Ophthalmicus/drug therapy , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Neuralgia/etiology , Neuralgia/pathology , Ophthalmic Nerve/pathology , Pain MeasurementABSTRACT
The morphological changes in the soleus muscle, immobilized by means of a plaster cast applied to the posterior limb of albino rats was studied. The animals were sacrificed 20 and 30 days after immobilization. The Authors agree with the hypothesis put forth by Lazarides regarding the cytoskeleton model of striated muscle fiber: morphological changes of the sarcomeres and myofilaments are brought on by translateral and longitudinal bridge damage.
