Notalgia Paresthetica (NP) is a type of chronic sensory neuropathy characterized by localized itching, pain and dysesthesias including numbness, tingling, burning, coldness, hypo- and hyperesthesia. It is frequently underdiagnosed and thus, there is no established standard of care for treatment. The objective of our study was to evaluate the efficacy of neural therapy in patients with NP. Patients aged 30-60 years with a diagnosis of NP for at least 6 months were included in our study. Intralesional and segmental neural therapy was administered to the patients in five sessions, with one-week intervals between each session. Patients were evaluated with numeric rating scale (NRS) for pain, the PainDETECT Questionnaire for neuropathic pain, the Short Form-12 (SF-12) for quality of life and the 5-D Itch Scale for pruritus. A total of 12 patients diagnosed with NP were included in the study. The median age of the patients included in the study was 45 years (33-59). 58.3% (n = 7) of the patients were female and 41.7% (n = 5) were male. The median duration of pain was 24 (6-60) months. Itching was observed in 75% (n = 9) and hypoesthesia was present in 58.3% (n = 7) of the patients. Comparisons were made with assessment scales before and 3 months after treatment. There was a significant difference in the pre-treatment NRS, PainDETECT Questionnaire, physical component of SF-12 and 5-D itch scale scores compared to post-treatment. Neural therapy represents a promising complementary treatment method for the reduction of pain, neuropathic pain, and pruritus in patients with NP. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated to enhance quality of life.
Keywords: Back pain; Intralesional injections; Neuralgia; Pruritus.
© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.