Effect of East-West pain treatment for Central Poststroke Pain on alleviation of pain and Rehabilitation

뇌졸중 후 중추성 통증 환자에 대한 동서협진이 진통과 재활에 미치는 영향

Purpose : In order to study the effectiveness of East-West pain treatment on central poststroke pain(CPSP), we evaluated its effect on alleviation of pain and rehabilitation of CPSP patients who were treated with eletroacupuncture and west pain treatment for four weeks. Methods : Twenty four patients diagnosed by their pain characteristics of central pain form stroke were treated with sympathetic nerve block, gabapentin, amitriptyline, and electroacupuncture for four weeks. Pain intensity through the visual analogue scale(VAS), and improvements of mobility and rehabilitation through the modified Barthel index(MBI) and Rankin scale(RS), respectively, before and after pain treatment were also assessed. Results : VAS pain scores were significantly improved from $7.7{\pm}1.7$ to $4.4{\pm}2.0$ with pain treatment(p<0.05). In accordance with improvement of ain scores, RS and MBI scores ere also improved from $2.88{\pm}0.95$ to $2.13{\pm}1.01$ and from $83.0{\pm}16.9$ to $94.7{\pm}9.5$(p<0.05), respectively, with pain treatment(p<0.05). Conclusions : It was suggested that the active pain treatment was contributed to the rehabilitation of CPSP patients, resulting in improvement of quality of life of CPSP patients. Futhermore, East pain treatment in combination with West pain treatment may be useful modality to alleviate CPSP.