- 期刊
針刺治療三叉神經痛
Acupuncture for the Treatment of Trigeminal Neuralgia
摘要
三叉神經痛(TN)為局限在三叉神經分枝支配區域的顏面疼痛，疼痛區域以第2枝合併第3枝分佈區為最多。最常見之病因是三叉神經受到血管壓迫，目前藥物控制以Carbamazepine（癲通）最常用，若藥效漸不佳或病患無法忍受藥物副作用，則考慮顯微血管減壓手術。然而，有部分患者疼痛未能完全緩解、疼痛復發或術後發生併發症，其結果不完全令人滿意，針刺治療三叉神經痛的優點是幾乎無副作用和損傷最小，本病例經由針刺治療病患之三叉神經痛，以目測類比量表VAS (visual analogue scale)評估止痛效果，結果由10移到2。此病人原本必須每日服用癲通2顆以減輕疼痛，現已減少到一天服用1顆，原來痛甚影響睡眠、無法咀嚼食物，只能喝流質食物，現在已可自由咀嚼飲食。從患者的三叉神經痛疼痛程度減少、服藥劑量減少及改善生活品質。可知經過針刺局部疼痛部位及經絡循行所過之腧穴後，對病情之緩解，有明顯的效果。
並列摘要
Background and Purpose: Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) is a type of facial pain limited to the branch area of trigeminal nerve. The pain region is limited to the second and third branch area, and the most common cause is vascular compression of the trigeminal nerve. Carbamazepine is the most commonly prescribed medicine at present. If the effect is unsatisfactory or patients cannot endure the side effects, microvascular decompression (MVD) would be considered. However, some patients still suffer from pain, reoccurrence, or post-surgical complications, thus, resulting in unsatisfactory outcome. The advantage of using acupuncture to treat TN is that there is no side effect or injury. Case Report: This case of TN was treated with acupuncture, and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) was used to evaluate the painrelieving effect. The result showed pain scale was reduced from 10 to 2. The patient took 2 tablets of Carbamazepine per day to relieve the pain, and now only 1 tablet is needed. Before the test, the patient suffered pain that deteriorated his sleeping quality, disabled him from chewing, thus only liquid food could be consumed. After the test, the patient could chew and drink freely. Conclusion: The decrease in the pain of TN and dosage, and improvement in the living quality showed that by applying acupuncture on the pain region, and circulation of meridian system passing the transport point, the symptoms could be relieved significantly.