Clinical Trial Protocol for rTMS in Postherpetic Neuralgia with Depression

174 adult patients with postherpetic neuralgia and comorbid depression were enrolled in a single-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. The study protocol, authored by Huichan Xu and last updated in April 2026, investigates the effect of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on prognosis and pain when combined with interventional neuromodulation therapy.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the incidence of poor prognosis at 3 and 6 months post-discharge based on the primary and secondary outcome measures.
• Modeling the relationship between pain scores (VAS, SF-MPQ) and depression scores (SDS) over the treatment course.
• Evaluating safety profiles by assessing reported adverse events like headache, dizziness, and tachycardia.
• Comparing patient-reported outcomes, including satisfaction, fatigue (MFI-20), and disability (PDI), between treatment and control groups.

Strengths

• 174 enrolled participants provide a defined sample size for analysis.
• The study design is a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial, a gold standard for clinical research.
• Outcomes are measured using multiple validated scales (VAS, SF-MPQ, SDS, PDI, MFI-20).

Limitations

• The dataset is a 120.7 KB DOC file, suggesting limited scope, likely containing the trial protocol rather than raw patient data.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count for actual clinical measurements is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Huichan Xu via figshare.

Collection Method

Data collected as part of a single-center clinical trial protocol.

Time Range

The trial protocol was registered in 2025 (ChiCTR2500096978), with data last updated in 2026.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-10 05:57:36; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Single-center trial; specific location is not stated in the provided metadata.