ObjectiveTo systematically review the efficacy and safety of fire needle in the treatment of post-herpetic neuralgia. MethodsPubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library, CNKI, WanFang Data, VIP, and CBM databases were electronically searched to collect randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of fire needle for post-herpetic neuralgia from inception to June 5th, 2021. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data, and assessed the risk of bias of included studies; then, meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3 software. ResultsA total of 31 RCTs involving 2 755 patients were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that compared with western medicine, fire needle could reduce VAS score (SMD=?1.00, 95%CI ?1.36 to ?0.63, P<0.000 01). Fire needle combined with western medicine could improve the total efficiency (RR=1.15, 95%CI 1.06 to 1.23, P=0.000 3), reduce VAS score (SMD=?1.92, 95%CI ?2.87 to ?0.97, P<0.000 1), and SAS rating (SMD=?0.89, 95%CI ?1.20 to ?0.59, P<0.000 01). Compared with conventional acupuncture, fire needle could reduce VAS score (SMD=?1.37, 95%CI ?2.35 to ?0.39, P=0.006), and immediate analgesic time (SMD=?0.64, 95%CI ?0.88 to ?0.39, P<0.000 01). Compared with the traditional Chinese medicine, fire needle could reduce VAS score (SMD=?1.00, 95%CI ?1.53 to ?0.47, P=0.000 2), SDS rating (SMD=?1.59, 95%CI ?1.18 to ?1.31, P<0.000 01), SAS rating (SMD=?1.79, 95%CI ?2.08 to ?1.49, P<0.000 01). In addition, the incidence of adverse reactions in experimental group was significantly lower than that in the control group. ConclusionCurrent evidence shows that fire needle can significantly reduce pain intensity, relieve anxiety, and improve the quality of life of post-herpetic neuralgia patients. Due to limited quality and quantity of the included studies, more high-quality studies are required to verify the above conclusion.
