• Yue-E Dai, Shao-Xing Liu, Ling Ye, and Yun-Xia Zuo.
• Department of Anesthesiology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University & The Research Units of West China (2018RU012), Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Chengdu, Sichuan, People's Republic of China.
• Pain Med. 2020 Dec 25; 21 (12): 3739-3746.

ObjectiveTo investigate the efficacy of ultrasound-mediated drug delivery for allodynia caused by herpes zoster.DesignUnblinded randomized controlled study with two treatment groups and an additional control group.SubjectsPatients hospitalized with allodynia caused by herpes zoster were enrolled.MethodsPatients were randomly assigned to three groups: ultrasound-mediated transdermal drug delivery (group U), lidocaine intradermal injection (group I), or control group (group C). The primary outcome was pain intensity associated with allodynia, assessed with the visual analog scale (VAS) while brushing the skin with clothing after treatment stimulated allodynia. The secondary outcomes included an emotional functioning score (ES), average gabapentin consumption, and incidence of adverse events of each group.ResultsSixty patients were enrolled in the study, but two of them failed to complete the treatment process. Therefore, 58 patients were included in the final analysis. All groups had lower VAS and ES scores after treatment compared with baseline. The VAS scores in groups U and I decreased significantly more than in group C (P < 0.05). Mean VAS scores in group U on days 1, 2, and 3 were lower than in group C (P < 0.01). ES was significantly lower in group U compared with groups I and C after treatment (P < 0.001). Average gabapentin consumption and incidence of adverse events in group C were higher than in the other two groups.ConclusionsIn this study of treatment of allodynia caused by herpetic zoster, ultrasound-mediated lidocaine and capsaicin delivery provided better pain relief and improved emotional functioning compared with intradermal blockade with local anesthetics.© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Academy of Pain Medicine. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

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