Abstract: Objective To observe the curative effect and safety of pricking and lfash-ifre cupping therapy to cure the postherpetic neuralgia. Methods The 60 cases were divided into two groups:one was the control group, Carbamazepine 100 mg was taken orally by the patients in control group, three times per day. And the 40 cases from the observation group were additionally treated with pricking and lfash-ifre cupping every two days beside Carbamazepine. Two weeks were served as one course of treatment. After ifnished, the curative effects were evaluated using the method of visual analogue scale (VAS), according to the pain and sleeping quality of patients before and after treatment. Results The cure rate in observation group was 87.5%and that of control group was 60.00%. The difference was signiifcant (P<0.05). The pain and the accumulate point of sleeping of patients from both groups were signiifcantly decreased after cure, and the curative effects of tested group was better than that of controls (P<0.5). Conclusion The pain of patients was greatly alleviated with the treatment of Carbamazepine combined with pricking and lfash-ifre cupping, and the life quality of patients can be improved, furthermore the method is easy to perform, and gets a good compliance, has little side-effects, which is a good alternative to cure the postherpetic neuralgia.

Key words: the postherpetic neuralgia, Carbamazepine, pricking and lfash-ifre cupping