Neural Therapy for Chronic Pain (Nov 2017) Townsend Letter, Alternative Medicine Magazine

From the Townsend Letter
November 2017

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Update of "Neural Therapy: An Overlooked Game Changer for Patients Suffering Chronic Pain?"
by Tracy L. Brobyn, MD, FAAFP; Myung Kyu Chung, MD; and Patrick J. LaRiccia, MD, MSCE

Page 1, 2, 3

Neural Therapy in the Medical Literature

In a survey of 405 patients with musculoskeletal diseases treated by primary care physicians, those patients treated with NT (n=164) indicated higher treatment satisfaction and higher patient-care related satisfaction than those patients treated with conventional medical care (n=241).²⁰

Fischer et al, reported a case of successful treatment of painful and progressive left-sided glossopharyngeal neuralgia, which had been unsuccessfully treated with standard medication therapy. The problem had been present for three years. After two NT treatments of the hypertrophic scar of the left tonsil, the patient's problem resolved; and he was pain free for two and half years at the time the report was written.²¹

Weinschenk et al, using NT successfully treated a woman with a 12-year history of conventional treatment-resistant vulvodynia. A total of 14 treatment were completed. The patient was pain free for three years at the time the report was written.²²

Saha et al reported a case of a 39-year-old male with a rectal scar from a gunshot wound. The patient had suffered chronic pain for 10 years. He had not responded to conventional medical therapy. Nine days after one rectal endoscopic NT injection he was symptom free. He was then lost to follow-up.²³

We (MKC, PJL) published three cases of chronic pain and chronic nausea refractory to standard medical therapy. NT resulted in total symptom resolution of, at minimum, two-years duration. Two of the cases had permanent resolution at the time of the report.^15,16 Also, we recently reported a case series of three patients in which breast scars were related to chronic neck and back pain. NT was instrumental in patient improvement.²⁴ NT's ease of use, safety, low cost, and ability to ease suffering appears to be remarkable in our group practice experience.

Haaks and Tackmann published a case series of 30 patients with post-stroke shoulder pain treated with NT. Seventy-five per cent of the patients were able to stop their analgesic medication.²⁵

Fischer and Pfister reported a NT case series of 72 with chronic pain who were resistant to conventional medical, surgical, and complementary/alternative medicine therapies. Thirty-three per cent showed significant improvement and 60% were able to reduce their medication.²⁶

Egli et al reported on a case series of 280 chronic pain (at least 3 months duration) patients who were unresponsive to conventional medical therapy. All received NT. At one year follow-up, 60 were unchanged; 52 were slightly improved; 126 were considerably better; 41 were pain free; and 74% had reduced or eliminated their medication intake. There were no adverse events.²⁷

Hui et al reported a randomized controlled trial of a multicomponent intervention of which NT was one of the components for chronic herpes zoster pain. Significant positive results occurred within three weeks and persisted in 78% of the subjects at one to two-year follow-up.¹⁴

Conclusion
In light of the preliminary evidence of the value and safety of NT for the treatment of chronic pain, NT's history in Western medicine as far back as 1926, and the major public health problems associated with the use of opioid medication^2,3 in the treatment of chronic pain, it is time for further research into NT and for consideration of NT in the treatment of chronic pain. The authors are open to collaboration with others to further research.

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References .pdf

Tracy L Brobyn, MD, received her BA cum laude from Barnard College of Columbia University and her MD from the State University of New York at Buffalo. She completed a residency in family medicine at Mountainside Hospital in Montclair, NJ. Dr. Brobyn is board certified in family medicine and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians. After serving in the United States Air Force, Dr. Brobyn served as assistant professor for the Robert Wood Johnson School of Medicine and attending physician at Cooper Hospital (Camden) in the Department of Family Medicine. Dr. Brobyn currently serves as assistant professor of family medicine at the Rowan University, School of Osteopathic Medicine. Dr. Brobyn is a Diplomat of the American Board of Medical Acupuncture and completed training in prolotherapy through the University of Wisconsin's Hackett Hemwell Foundation. She has trained with the American Academy of Anti-Aging in the use of bio-identical hormone replacement. She is an advocate for increasing physical activity in the community.
Myung Kyu Chung, MD. After serving as the chief of the department of family medicine at the Cooper University Hospital in Camden and vice-chair of the department of family medicine at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School for 13 years, Dr. Chung elected to pursue solely his clinical and research interest in integrative medicine. Dr. Chung is currently the director and founder of the Chung Institute of Integrative Medicine, clinical professor at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, and president of the Won Sook Chung Foundation.
He graduated from the University of Washington School of Medicine (Seattle). Dr. Chung is board certified in family medicine and a Diplomate of the American Board of Medical Acupuncture. He has been named by the Philadelphia Magazine, South Jersey Magazine, and New Jersey Monthly as one of the "Top Doctors" and named as one of the best doctors in the Northeast. Over the past two years, he has published peer-reviewed papers related to neural therapy, acupuncture, and autonomic response testing.

Patrick J. LaRiccia, MD, MSCE (Corresponding author). Dr. LaRiccia's background includes a bachelor's degree from Youngstown State University; master's degrees in psychology and clinical epidemiology from Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine; and MD from the University of Ghent in Ghent, Belgium. He is board certified in internal medicine and a licensed acupuncturist. Dr. LaRiccia is Research Director for the Won Sook Chung Foundation; a member of the medical staffs of Penn-Presbyterian Medical Center and of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania; and is an adjunct scholar at the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Pennsylvania Perlman School of Medicine.
He has been active in professional organizations, serving as president of the Acupuncture Society of Pennsylvania and president of the New York Society of Acupuncture for Physicians and Dentists. He is the recipient of awards related to acupuncture and has been listed in Who's Who in America and Who's Who in Healthcare. Email: lariccip@mail.med.upenn.edu.

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