Abstract
In order to investigate the efficacy of low-power He:Ne laser in treatment of pain, we irradiated 18 outpatients with severe postherpetic neuralgia. The efficacy of the low-power laser treatment was evaluated using a four-grade estimation, visual analog scale (VAS), and modified McGill pain questionnaire (m-MPQ) after every 10 of as many as 50 irradiations. The efficacy rate using a four-grade estimation at the end of 50 treatments was 94.4%. VAS decreased from 6.2 before irradiation therapy to 3.6 after 50 treatments, and the degree of pain relief was reduced to 44.6% and correlated with the number of treatments. The total numbers of words and the total scores of the m-MPQ decreased as the number of treatments increased. No complications attributable to the laser therapy were observed. These results suggest that repeated irradiation with low-power He:Ne laser is an effective and safe therapy for postherpetic neuralgia.
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