Treatment of postherpetic neuralgia by bone marrow aspirate injection: A case report

BACKGROUND: Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) is the most frequent and a difficult-to-treat complication of herpes zoster (HZ). Its symptoms include allodynia, hyperalgesia, burning, and an electric shock-like sensation stemming from the hyperexcitability of damaged neurons and varicella-zoster virus-mediated inflammatory tissue damage. HZ-related PHN has an incidence of 5%–30%, and in some patients, the pain is intolerable and can lead to insomnia or depression. In many cases, the pain is resistant to pain-relieving drugs, necessitating radical therapy. CASE SUMMARY: We present the case of a patient with PHN whose pain was not cured by conventional treatments, such as analgesics, block injections, or Chinese medicines, but by bone marrow aspirate concentrate (BMAC) injection containing bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells. BMAC has already been used for joint pains. However, this is the first report on its use for PHN treatment. CONCLUSION: This report reveals that bone marrow extract can be a radical therapy for PHN.