Pleural Effusion Followed by Multiple Intercostal Nerve Blocks in the Patient with Postherpetic Neuralgia

대상포진후 신경통 치료중에 발생한 흉막 삼출액

We experienced a case of pleural effusion while treating postherpetic neuralgia in a 70 year old male patient. The patient had scar and color change on the skin along the course of the right Th4-5 intercostal nerve, characteristics of healed herpes zoster. The patient also complained of severe pain along the lesion site which made sleeping difficult. He had been treated with; epidural blocks with or without catheterization; epidural or regional corticosteroids; multiple intraspinal and intercostal blocks with local anesthetic; or neurolytic, alcohol, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, etc., for about six months by the time of pleural effusion development. We came to the conclusion that the effusion was due to pleural irritation by multiple intercostal nerve blocks, because it was bloody and developed on the affected right side, although the patient had a history of a certain hepatic pathology and pulmonary tuberculosis which may be a predisposing factor to the effusion.

대상포진후 신경통은 통증 치료실에서 흔히 만나는 질환이지만 가장 치료하기 힘든 질환 중의 하나이다. 따라서 통증 치료를 담당하는 의사는 자기가 알고 모든 지식을 동원하여 환자를 치료하지만, 그 결과는 대개 만족스럽지 못하고, 또 뜻하지 않은 합병증을 당하여 당황하는 수도 있었다. 저자들은 폐 결핵등의 과거력을 가진 대상포진후 신경통 환자의 치료 도중에 반복적인 늑간신경 차단이 기여했으라라고 생각되는 흉막삼출액 발생을 경험하였기에 보고하는 바이다.