Clinical study of liquid nitrogen cryotherapy combined with acyclovir and mecobalamin in elderly patients with herpes zoster / 中华老年医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To compare the efficacy and safety of liquid nitrogen cryotherapy combined with acyclovir and mecobalamin in the treatment of herpes zoster in elderly patients.Methods 520 elderly patients with herpes zoster were randomly divided into two groups,experimental group and control group (n=260,each).Patients in experimental group were treated with liquid nitrogen cryotherapy,using liquid nitrogen cotton swab to graze the skin lesions 2-3 times per day for successive 5 days,combined with acyclovir and mecobalamin.Patients in control group were treated with acyclovir and mecobalamin.New blisters and dry skin and crust were observed and compared between the two groups on the 5th,14th,30th day after treatment.The skin lesion situation and reaction times for pain complete remission,vesicular scab,postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) were recorded and analyzed.Results The effective rate was 93.9％ (244/260) in the experimental group versus 84.2％ (219/260) in the control group (x2 =12.32,P＜ 0.05).The reaction times for vesicular scab,pain complete remission and subside were shorter in experimental group than in control group [(2.63 ±0.78)d vs.(4.75±1.39)d,(8.17±1.68)d vs.(11.25±2.23)d,(9.24±2.53)d vs.(12.78±3.13)d,all P＜0.01].There was no significant difference in new blister time between the experimental group and the control group [(1.85±0.62) d vs.(1.79±0.83)d,P＞0.05].Postherpetic neuralgia incidence was lower in experimental group than in control group [6.9％ (18/260) vs.18.1％ (47/260),x2 =14.79,P＜0.01].Conclusions Treatment with liquid nitrogen cryotherapy combined with acyclovir and mecobalamin can shorten the reaction times of vesicular scab,and pain complete remission and subside,and reduce postherpetic neuralgia as compared to acyclovir and mecobalamin treatment in elderly patients with herpes zoster.