[Shallow Fire-needle Acupuncture Stimulation Plus Cupping Relieves Neuralgia and Down-regulates Serum Substance P Level in Patients with Acute Herpes Zoster]

To observe the influence of repeated shallow fire-needle acupuncture stimulation plus cupping on local neuralgia and serum substance P(SP)content in patients with acute herpes zoster (AHZ).A total of 60 cases of AHZ patients were randomly divided into control (medication) group and treatment (medication plus fire-needle) group (After the treatment, the VAS scores and serum SP concentrations in both groups were significantly decreased in comparison with those of their own pre-treatment (Repeated shallow fire-needle stimulation plus cupping can accelerate the relief of local neuralgia in AHZ patients, which may be associated with its effect in down-regulating serum SP level.