Pain reliefe in viral infections. What role does ozone play? [abstract]

Resum

PURPOSE: This preliminary study aim to investigate the role of ozone in ameliorating quality of life in patient affected by herpes infections thus reducing post herpetic neuralgia. BACKGROUND: Zoster-associated pain is experienced by approximately 90% of patients. Post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN) is a common consequence of an HSV infection. It is a chronic neuropathic pain condition that persists 3 months or more following an outbreak of shingles. Current interventions for PHN, such as lidocaine patches, opioids, antidepressants, anti-epileptics, electric stimulating catheters, are palliative and often fail to treat the underlying disease. Because multiple contributing factors seem to determine the severity of PHN, the management of chronic pain requires an integrated approach. MATERIAL and METHODS: twelve patients (8 men/ 4 women) suffering for a burning pain in correlation with herpetic infection were electively treated with a Systemic Ozone Therapy on a blood volume of 120 ml mixed with equal volume of ozone/oxygen mixture at 25 mcgr/mL twice a week, following once a week for 2nd and 3rd week. VAS and health questionnaire were measured. RESULTS: the majority of patients showed a VAS reduction in burning pain between 6 (T1) and 12 hr (T2) . At 48 hr (T3) every patient showed an amelioration in quality of sleep. Results at 3 months were comparable. CONCLUSIONS: clarifying the mechanism of action triggered by ozone in reducing pain during viral infection is under investigation. We hypothesize that the moderate oxidative stress induced by Ozone enhances the antioxidant elements giving a final protection of damaged cells, renewing of neural system. Being easy to perform, giving an improvement of night rest with no side effect and well accepted by patients.