Data collection and outcomes
neuropathic pain, skin eruption, pain, PHN, herpetic pain, herpetic neuralgia
PHN, HERPETIC NEURALGIA, SKIN ERUPTION
Baseline data collected included demographic information; pain level (as perceived by the patient using visual analog scale, VAS, a 10‐cm unmarked line, with anchors: 0 = no pain and 10 cm = worst pain imaginable); current medications; smoking status; and pain threshold of the patient's affected dermal area as well as counterpart skin at healthy side.After intervention, in 1, 2, 4, 8, 12, 24 weeks after autologous fat injection, participants were asked to having the follow‐up visit at our department. At each visit, information were recorded including: the level of pain at the HZ site, the total analgesic consumption, the times of complete resolution of pain (from the date of paravertebral block until complete disappearance of herpetic pain) and skin eruption (identified by drop of last crust), and pain threshold. The quality of life was measured using the Short‐Form 36 (SF‐36) and the quality of neuropathic pain was recorded according to patients’ self‐report. A 5‐point Likert scale measuring treatment satisfaction (1 = very unsatisfied, 2 = unsatisfied, 3 = neither satisfied nor unsatisfied, 4 = satisfied and 5 = very satisfied) was also recorded. The primary outcome is the incidence of herpetic neuralgia in 3 months after this treatment, as this is determined according to the definition of PHN (Chan, All patients’ reported outcomes were collected based on standardized case report form filled out by patients at baseline and at follow‐ups. A pain physician who was blinded to the study protocol, was responsible for the follow‐up and the data collection.