A Case Report of Herpes Zoster Patient Improved by the East-west Medical Combined Treatment

Ye Eun Cho; Seung Min Lee; Kang Hyun Yoon; Ji Seok Lim; Ji Hye Kim; Do Young Choi; Jae Dong Lee

doi:10.13045/acupunct.2014018

J Acupunct Res > Volume 31(1); 2014 > Article

Cho, Lee, Yoon, Lim, Kim, Choi, and Lee: A Case Report of Herpes Zoster Patient Improved by the East-west Medical Combined Treatment

Case Report

The Acupuncture 2014; 31(1): 177-186.

Published online: March 20, 2014

DOI: https://doi.org/10.13045/acupunct.2014018

A Case Report of Herpes Zoster Patient Improved by the East-west Medical Combined Treatment

Ye Eun Cho, Seung Min Lee, Kang Hyun Yoon, Ji Seok Lim, Ji Hye Kim, Do Young Choi, Jae Dong Lee^*

Department of Acupuncture & Moxibustion Medicine, College of Korean Medicine, Kyung Hee University

^*Corresponding author : Department of Acupuncture & Moxibustion Medicine, Kyung Hee University Korean Medicine Hospital, 23, Kyungheedae-ro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, 130-872, Republic of Korea, Tel : +82-2-958-9202 E-mail : ljdacu@khmc.or.kr

Received February 11, 2014 Revised March 05, 2014 Accepted March 10, 2014

This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Abstract

Objectives :

The aim of this study is to report a case of a 51-year-old patient with Herpes zoster, whose symptoms were relieved within five weeks after the East-west medical combined treatment.

Methods :

A Herpes zoster patient with extreme pain around the right lower ribs and lower back was admitted into the Korean medicine hospital. Bee venom acupuncture was applied directly onto the site of pain and electroacupuncture was applied on GV₆-BL₂₀, inferior site of spinous process of the 12th thoracic vertebra-BL₂₁, GV₅-BL₂₂, GV₄-BL₂₃ six times a week. Moxibustion was applied on BL₄₉, BL₅₀, BL₅₁, BL₅₂, GB₂₅, LR₁₃ six times a week, and the patient took daily doses of herbal medicine and western medicines such as anticonvulsants, analgesics, antiepileptics. The patient’s symptoms were evaluated with numeric rating scale(NRS) and neuropathic pain scale(NPS).

Results :

The results were as follows:

After the East-west medical combined treatment, the NRS grade decreased from 8 to 1.
On the neuropathic pain scale, the patient’s symptoms changed from deep sharp pain and burning sensation to superficial dull pain and coldness. Sensitivity to touch, discomfort, and itchiness also decreased. Sudden attacks of pain appeared 14 to 21 days after onset, but disappeared after final treatment.

Conclusions :

The results of the above patient suggests that the East-west medical combined treatment may be effective for total remission of herpes zoster. Further research is needed to confirm such effects.

Key Words: Herpes zoster; Bee venom acupuncture; Electroacupuncture; Moxibustion; Numeric rating scale; Neuropathic pain scale.

Fig. 1.

The change of NRS

After the east-west medical combined treatment, the NRS grade decreased from 8 to 1.

Fig. 2.

The change of NPS

On the NPS, the patient’s symptoms changed from deep sharp pain and burning sensation to superficial dull pain and coldness. Sensitivity to touch, discomfort, and itchiness also decreased.

Table 1.

Herbal Medicine

Date	Herbal medicine
10. 3∼13	Eokgansangamibang Decotion
10. 14∼17	Siryeongtang Decotion
10. 18∼20	Samsoeum Decotion
10. 21∼22	Gyejigabujatang Decotion
10. 23∼27	Hyeongbangpaedoksangami Decotion
10. 28	Bohyeolansintang Decotion
10. 29	Rehmanniae Radix Crudus 16 g, Akebiae Caulis 8 g, Trichosanthis Semen, Angelicae Decursivae Radix, Alismatis Rhizoma, Bupleuri Radix 4 g
10. 30	Dokhwaljihwangtang Decotion
10. 31∼11. 3	Rehmanniae Radix Crudus 20 g, Akebiae Caulis 12 g, Trichosanthis Semen, Angelicae Decursivae Radix 6 g, Bupleuri Radix 4 g, Anemarrhenae Rhizoma 8 g, Moutan Cortex Radicis 4 g, Codonopsis Pilosulae Radix 12 g
11. 4	Rehmanniae Radix Crudus 20 g, Akebiae Caulis, Trichosanthis Semen, Angelicae Decursivae Radix 6 g, Bupleuri Radix 4 g, Anemarrhenae Rhizoma 8 g, Moutan Cortex Radicis 4 g, Codonopsis Pilosulae Radix 12 g, Platycodi Radix 6 g
11. 5	Rehmanniae Radix Crudus 28 g, Akebiae Caulis, Trichosanthis Semen 6 g, Bupleuri Radix, Moutan Cortex Radicis 4 g, Codonopsis Pilosulae Radix 20 g, Platycodi Radix 6 g, Coptidis Rhizoma 3 g, Rehmanniae Radix Preparata 8 g
11. 6	Rehmanniae Radix Crudus 28 g, Trichosanthis Semen, Platycodi Radix 6 g, Coptidis Rhizoma 3 g, Rehmanniae Radix Preparata 8 g, Ginseng Radix Alba 6 g, Scrophulariae Radix 4,g

Table 2.

Clinical Symptom Progress

Date	Clinical progress
10. 3	The patient suffered extreme pain during day
10. 7	The pain of right rib decreased but pain of middle of abdomen appeared
10. 11	The range of sharp pain became wider
10. 13	The pain of middle of abdomen disappeared
10. 15	The degree of pain reduced. The sudden pain appeared at evening
10. 17	The frequency of pain reduced 5–6 times a day. The patient felt no pain about two hours after bee venom acupuncture
10. 19	Lower back pain(NRS 4) appeared when the patient didn’t take medicine
10. 23	Lower back pain reduced. The patient felt a little pain during walking
10. 25	Lower back pain disappeared
10. 29	The paint felt deep dull pain
11. 2	The symptoms of patient almost disappeared

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