ReviewHealthcare (Basel, Switzerland)2022
Comparing Prodrugs with Acyclovir for Treating Postherpetic Neuralgia among Herpes Zoster Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Review in Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland), 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 9 citations in OpenAlex.
- Targeting Neuroinflammation and Peripheral Nerve Dysfunction in Refractory Postherpetic Neuralgia: A Multimodal Injection Case Series.The American journal of case reports · 2026Article
- Nomogram-Based Prediction Model for Postherpetic Neuralgia in Immunosuppressive Patients.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- A Short Review and Update on Epidemiology, Treatment, and Management of Herpes Zoster (Shingles) Infection.Current pharmaceutical design · 2026Review
- Effect of famciclovir combined with nerve block on acute pain in patients with herpes zoster.American journal of translational research · 2026Article
- Immune Dysregulation in Acute Herpes Zoster: Predictive Factors for Postherpetic Neuralgia.Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research · 2025Article
- Unilateral Oral Herpes Zoster in an Elderly Female: A Case Report and Review of the Literature.Clinical, cosmetic and investigational dermatology · 2025Article
- Effectiveness and safety of recombinant zoster vaccine: A review of real-world evidence.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2023Review
- Clinical efficacy and metabolomic analysis of ozone major autohemotherapy for the treatment of herpes zoster.Postepy dermatologii i alergologii · 2023Article
- Article
- Current scenario and future applicability of antivirals against herpes zoster.The Korean journal of pain · 2023Review
- An unusual case of lower trunk brachial plexus zoster reactivation.Case reports in plastic surgery & hand surgery · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) is a common, painful, and long-term complication of herpes zoster (HZ). PHN increases the demand for healthcare services and, previous studies showed that patients who received antiviral agents were less likely to develop PHN. The objective of this study was to compare the efficacy of prodrugs and acyclovir in treating PHN among patients with HZ. The search included the PubMed, Medline, Embase, and Cochrane Center of Register of Controlled Trails databases through February 2022. Clinical trials and randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving antiviral agent intervention for HZ patients diagnosed with PHN were eligible for inclusion. A meta-analysis was conducted to calculate pooled risk ratios (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) with a fix-effect model. Five RCTs with 1147 HZ patients met our eligibility criteria. Our meta-analysis found that there was a significantly lower risk of PHN for members of the prodrugs group (famciclovir and valaciclovir) compared with those who received acyclovir (RR = 0.86, 95%, CI: 0.75 to 0.98,
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.