ArticleScientific reports2025
Comparative efficacy and safety of pulsed radiofrequency versus spinal cord stimulation in thoracic herpes zoster pain: a retrospective study.
Article in Scientific reports, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Effects of pricking-and-cupping bloodletting therapy on pain and skin lesions in patients with herpes zoster: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in neurology · 2026Pooled it
- Comparison of efficacy and safety of non-oral therapeutic interventions for zoster-associated pain: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.Frontiers in neurologyPooled it
- Comparative Efficacy of Short-Term Spinal Cord Stimulation for Subacute Zoster-Associated Pain: A Three-Group Propensity Score-Matched Analysis.Pain and therapy · 2026Article
- CT-guided pulsed radiofrequency of sacral and pudendal nerves for herpes zoster-related neurogenic lower urinary tract dysfunction in male patients: a retrospective study.Frontiers in neurology · 2026Article
- Home-Based Remote Programming versus Inpatient Programming After Short-Term Spinal Cord Stimulation for Herpes Zoster Neuralgia: A Single-Center Retrospective Cohort Study.Journal of pain research · 2026Article
- Development and validation of a machine learning model for predicting postherpetic neuralgia risk.Frontiers in neurologyArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
This retrospective study evaluated the comparative efficacy and safety of short-term spinal cord stimulation (st-SCS) and pulsed radiofrequency (PRF) therapy in 275 patients with thoracic herpes zoster-associated neuralgia (ZAN) treated between January 2022 and August 2024. Patients were stratified by disease duration into acute (≤ 30 days), subacute (30-90 days), and postherpetic (≥ 90 days) phases. The st-SCS group (n = 127) demonstrated superior pain relief at 3, 6, and 12 months post-treatment compared to the PRF group (n = 148), particularly in subacute and postherpetic phases (P < 0.05). While no significant intergroup difference was observed in the acute phase (P > 0.05), st-SCS showed significantly better outcomes in subsequent phases. The st-SCS group exhibited higher preoperative PQSI scores during the acute phase (P < 0.05) and improved BPI scores at 1-month follow-up (P < 0.05). Both interventions significantly reduced HADS-A and HADS-D scores at all time points (P < 0.05), with st-SCS demonstrating superior long-term improvement in depression scores (P < 0.05). These findings suggest that st-SCS provides more effective and sustained pain relief, along with greater improvements in sleep quality, emotional well-being, and quality of life compared to PRF in the management of thoracic herpes zoster-associated neuralgia.
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