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Acute Herpes ZosterPhase 4NCT06985589

Efficacy and Safety of Fire Needle Therapy Combined With Cortex Phellodendri Compound Fluid Wet Compress for Acute Herpes Zoster: a Randomized Controlled Trial.

A Phase 4 study testing Fire needle, Cortex Phellodendri compound fluid wet compress and basic treatment in people with Acute Herpes Zoster, run by Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University at 1 site in China.

Completed

Finished. The study has ended and is not enrolling. Results may be posted on the official record.

Official record
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Trial summary

Herpes zoster (HZ) results from a reactivation of varicella-zoster virus (VZV), which causes primary infection leading to chickenpox and remains latent in the ganglia. Fire needle therapy is a non-pharmacological treatment that combines heat therapy with traditional acupuncture. Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 18 to 80 years
Conditions the study is for
Acute Herpes Zoster
What is being tested?
Fire needle, Cortex Phellodendri compound fluid wet compress and basic treatment
Could I receive a placebo?
No, everyone receives an active treatment
How many people
32 participants
Where
1 siteChina
Study dates
1 Jan 2024to 31 Aug 2024
Phase
Phase 4
Are there results?
None posted in the registry

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages 18 to 80 years
  • All sexes
  • No healthy volunteers
  • Adult, Older adult

Who may be able to join

  • males and females, aged 18-80 years old;
  • diagnosed as acute HZ with the course of disease within 7 days;
  • without history of other treatment before enrollment.

Who cannot join

  • specific types of HZ, including Ramsay Hunt Syndrom, ophthalmic, disseminated, deep, purpuric and central nervous system HZ;
  • pregnancy and lactation;
  • allergic to the related Chinese herbals;
  • patients with contraindications to penciclovir, mecobalamin and pregabalin; (e) history of hypertrophic scar or keloid;
  • severe cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, digestive, urinary or hematopoietic disease; (g) mental disease; (h) coagulation disorders.

Trial locations and contacts

1 site in 1 country.

China1 site
  • The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University

    Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710000

Other trials in China

About this study

Herpes zoster (HZ) results from a reactivation of varicella-zoster virus (VZV), which causes primary infection leading to chickenpox and remains latent in the ganglia. Fire needle therapy is a non-pharmacological treatment that combines heat therapy with traditional acupuncture. This technique involves heating sterilized needles and swiftly inserting them into specific points or areas of the skin. Chinese herbal wet compress therapy is directly delivering medications to the lesion site, facilitating rapid transdermal absorption. This method ensures stable local drug concentrations and effectively alleviates pain, swelling, and other clinical symptoms. In this study, we conducted a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of fire needle therapy combined with CPCF wet compress for the treatment of acute HZ. 32 acute HZ patients were randomized into control (standard antiviral and analgesic therapy) and treated groups (standard therapy plus fire needle [5 sessions, every other day] and CPCF wet compress [3 times/day, 10 days]). After 10 days of treatment, fire needle combined with CPCF wet compress significantly enhances symptom relief, pain reduction, and quality of life in acute HZ, with favorable safety.

Read the detailed description

Herpes zoster (HZ) results from a reactivation of varicella-zoster virus (VZV), which causes primary infection leading to chickenpox and remains latent in the ganglia. Fire needle therapy is a non-pharmacological treatment that combines heat therapy with traditional acupuncture. This technique involves heating sterilized needles and swiftly inserting them into specific points or areas of the skin. Chinese herbal wet compress therapy is directly delivering medications to the lesion site, facilitating rapid transdermal absorption. This method ensures stable local drug concentrations and effectively alleviates pain, swelling, and other clinical symptoms. In this study, we conducted a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of fire needle therapy combined with CPCF wet compress for the treatment of acute HZ. 32 acute HZ patients were randomized into control (standard antiviral and analgesic therapy) and treated groups (standard therapy plus fire needle [5 sessions, every other day] and CPCF wet compress [3 times/day, 10 days]). After 10 days of treatment, fire needle combined with CPCF wet compress significantly enhances symptom relief, pain reduction, and quality of life in acute HZ, with favorable safety.

Being tested
Fire needle, Cortex Phellodendri compound fluid wet compress, basic treatment
Keywords
acute Herpes zoster, fire needle therapy, Cortex Phellodendri compound fluid, randomized controlled trial

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

  • Fire needleProcedure or surgery

    At the beginning of the fire needle therapy, the patient was instructed to exposure the lesion in a comfortable position. And the Ashi point (lesion area) was disinfected with iodophor. The 95% alcohol lamp was lit and held by the left hand. Then the needle was held by the right hand in the outer flame of the alcohol lamp to heat the needle body, making the tip of the needle whiten. Subsequently, the needle was quickly and accurately puncted into the base of the herpes at a depth of about 2-5 mm, straight in and out. According to the number of herpes, the early-onset herpes was puncted first, and about 5 to 10 blisters were selected for each puncture. The acupuncture was performed 1-5 times according to the size of the herpes. The treatment was performed once every other day for total 5 sessions.

  • Cortex Phellodendri compound fluid wet compressDrug

    For the Chinese herbal wet compress treatment, CPCF (Shandong Hanfang Pharmaceutical Co., LTD.) was decocted using forsythia, honeysuckle, phellodendron, dandelion, and centipede. Appropriate amount of liquid was diluted with 5 times the volume of water. Then according to the area of skin lesions, several pieces of medical fat-free cotton gauze with thickness of 8 layers were put into the liquid completely wet. After wringing out to a semi-dry state, the gauze was applied to the lesion for 15 minutes/time, 3 times a day, for 10 days.

  • basic treatmentDrug

    The basic treatment consisted of penciclovir 0.5g/time per day intravenously, mecobalamin 0.5mg/time three times a day orally and pregabalin 75mg/time twice a day orally for 10 days.

Study groups in NCT06985589
Study groupRoleWhat they receive
treated groupExperimentalThe patients received fire needle (5 sessions, every other day) combined with CPCF wet compress treatment (3 times/day, 10 days) in addition to the basic treatment of the control group.
Receives: Procedure: Fire needle; Drug: Cortex Phellodendri compound fluid wet compress; Drug: basic treatment
control groupExperimentalThe control group received basic treatment, which consisted of penciclovir 0.5g/time per day intravenously, mecobalamin 0.5mg/time three times a day orally and pregabalin 75mg/time twice a day orally for 10 days.
Receives: Drug: basic treatment

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  1. herpes zoster symptom and sign quantitative scoring scale

    The degree of the clinical symptoms and signs of HZ (including local pain, local itching, burning sensation, papular erythema, number of blisters, number of blister clusters, herpes character, ulcer, fever, local lymph node enlargement, and skin lesion area change) were divided into four grades: 0 (none), 1 (mild), 2 (moderate), and 3 (severe).

    Measured: From enrollment to day 10

  2. lesion improvement index n

    The lesion improvement index n was calculated by the formula: n (%) = (symptom and sign quantitative score at baseline - symptom and sign quantitative score at 10 days)/symptom and sign quantitative score at baselin ×100%.

    Measured: From enrollment to day 10

  3. the total improved rate

    The clinical improvement was graded as follows: clinical cure (n≥90%), significant improvement (70%≤n<90%), moderate improvement (30%≤n<70%), no improvement (n < 30%). The total improved rate was calculated as cases of (clinical cure + significant improvement + moderate improvement)/total cases×100%.

    Measured: From enrollment to day 10

Secondary outcomes (5)
  1. questionnaire of Dermatology Life Quality Index

    Measured: From enrollment to day 10

  2. Pittsburgh sleep quality index

    Measured: From enrollment to day 10

  3. Hamilton Anxiety Scale

    Measured: From enrollment to day 10

  4. Visual analog scale

    The pain intensity due to HZ was evaluated by a visual analog scale (VAS) ranging from 0 to 10 (0: no pain, 1-3: mild, 4-6: moderate, 7-10: severe) at day 0 and day 10.

    Measured: From enrollment to day 10

  5. incidence of postherpetic neuralgia

    The incidence of postherpetic neuralgia was analysed at day 90.

    Measured: From enrollment to day 90

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted22 May 2025
  2. Study start1 Jan 2024
  3. Primary completion31 Aug 2024
  4. Study completion31 Aug 2024

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Interventional
Phase
Phase 4
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomised
Intervention model
Parallel groups
Masking
Single blind
Who is masked
Outcomes assessor
Enrolment
32 participants (actual)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT06985589
Sponsor's protocol ID
2025514
Status last verified
May 2025
First submitted
14 May 2025
Last updated
22 May 2025
Results posted
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
Individual data sharing
No

Publications

  • Zeng JC, Liao YZ, Li JJ, Lu LH, Li HZ, Lu LM, Li QJ, Li LX, Wang SX, Lin GH. [Clinical efficacy of fire needling combined with cupping therapy on herpes zoster of acute stage and the effect on Th17/Treg cellular immune balance]. Zhongguo Zhen Jiu. 2023 Oct 12;43(10):1128-33. doi: 10.13703/j.0255-2930.20221005-k0004. Chinese.

    PubMed 37802518
  • Zhang Y, Li SH, Yang L, Xu QN, Pei WY, Liang ZH, Liu XH, Yang JJ, Lin GH. [Shallow Fire-needle Acupuncture Stimulation Plus Cupping Relieves Neuralgia and Down-regulates Serum Substance P Level in Patients with Acute Herpes Zoster]. Zhen Ci Yan Jiu. 2018 Aug 25;43(8):492-4. doi: 10.13702/j.1000-0607.170923. Chinese.

    PubMed 30232851
  • Huang SX, Mao M, Pu JJ, Chen YH, Deng L, Zhao H, Geng MJ, Zhong RF, Guo YJ, Liu ZS, Wang YH, Ye YM, Liu J, Yang T, Zhao AM, Chen XH, Zhu HY, Du YC. [Clinical research on fire filiform needle combined with mild moxibustion for postherpetic neuralgia]. Zhongguo Zhen Jiu. 2014 Mar;34(3):225-9. Chinese.

    PubMed 24843959
  • Chen J, Luo C, Ju P, Tu S, Shi S, Wang Z, Wu H. A bibliometric analysis and visualization of acupuncture and moxibustion therapy for herpes zoster and postherpetic neuralgia. Skin Res Technol. 2024 Jun;30(6):e13815. doi: 10.1111/srt.13815.

    PubMed 38924142
  • Dai YX, Yeh FY, Shen YJ, Tai YH, Huang N, Chang YT, Chen TJ, Li CP, Wu CY. Cigarette smoking and risk of herpes zoster: a population-based cohort study in Taiwan. Clin Exp Dermatol. 2021 Oct;46(7):1293-1298. doi: 10.1111/ced.14650. Epub 2021 May 11.

    PubMed 33763912
  • Patil A, Goldust M, Wollina U. Herpes zoster: A Review of Clinical Manifestations and Management. Viruses. 2022 Jan 19;14(2):192. doi: 10.3390/v14020192.

    PubMed 35215786

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

A Phase 4 study testing Fire needle, Cortex Phellodendri compound fluid wet compress and basic treatment in people with Acute Herpes Zoster, run by Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University at 1 site in China.

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

The sponsor lists 3 inclusion and 5 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 22 May 2025. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 1 site in China. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

What does this phase mean?

Phase 4 studies take place after a treatment is approved, to learn more about its long-term benefits and risks in everyday use.

Not every study follows the same path, and some studies (observational studies, device studies) have no phase.

Are results available for this study?

The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

What does the primary outcome measure?

herpes zoster symptom and sign quantitative scoring scale (time frame: From enrollment to day 10). The study lists 3 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?

On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT06985589, which also lists 6 linked publications.

Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 22 May 2025.

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