Botulinum toxin type A for neuralgia

  Neuralgia is recently defined as “neuralgia as a direct result of an injury or disease affecting the sensory system”, of which about 5-7% of patients have severe neuralgia, only about half of which are partially relieved by oral medication or surgery. The other half of patients become refractory to neuralgia, resulting in a serious decrease in the patient’s quality of life. The common clinical disorders are trigeminal neuralgia, postherpetic neuralgia, and occipital neuralgia.  In recent years, studies have shown that botulinum toxin A blocks the release of presynaptic acetylcholine vesicles by cleaving synaptic vesicle-associated protein 25. At the same time, synaptic vesicle-associated protein 25 is an important structure that constitutes the extracellular sensitizer-adsorbing protein receptor complex, so botulinum toxin also inhibits the release of various transmitters associated with sensitizing pain receptors, such as substance P and calcitonin gene-related peptide, and thus botulinum toxin has analgesic effects.  As a potent, lethal neurotoxin, safety considerations are paramount when botulinum toxin is used for treatment. The LD50 for intravenous or intramuscular injection of botulinum toxin in monkeys is 40u/kg, which is presumed to be 3500u for an adult male weighing 70kg, and we generally use no more than 300u at a time, so it is still quite safe.  As a neurotoxin, botulinum toxin has been used in clinical applications for many years, including treatment of strabismus, fox, reduction of scarring, etc. Its safety has been verified for many years, and botulinum toxin is mainly used in neurology as a treatment for spasticity and painful diseases, such as herpetic neuralgia, trigeminal neuralgia, chronic migraine, etc. It also has good efficacy. And to treat these diseases, most patients need to use only 50u-100u of Botox, or even smaller doses, which shows that Botox local injection is still quite safe. Trigeminal neuralgia, postherpetic neuralgia, occipital neuralgia, etc. can be treated with local Botox injections.  The Department of Neurology of our hospital adopts the type A botulinum toxin produced in China, so if you have pain troubles, you can consult with the Department of Neurology of our hospital.