Table 1.

Characteristics of the trials included in the systematic review and network meta-analysis

Author, year	Management	Number of patients	Age, yr	Sex, M/F	Pain assessment tool	Outcomes of interest
						Incidence of PHN at 1 month	Incidence of PHN at 3 months	Incidence of PHN at 6 months	Mean pain score at 1 month	Mean pain score at 3 months	Mean pain score at 6 months
Bulilete et al., 2019 [108]	Valaciclovir + gabapentin	50	65.1	20/28	10-point VAS	•	•		•	•
	Valaciclovir + placebo	48	66.0	18/30
Lee et al., 2016 [104]	Valaciclovir + gabapentin	60	62.58	18/42	10-point Likert scale	•	•		•	•
	Valaciclovir	60	61.83	25/35
Stepanović et al., 2015 [103]	TENS	36	57.3	14/22	VAS	•	•	•
	Symptomatic care	38	59.9	16/22
	Antiviral agent	71	70.6	32/39
	Antiviral + TENS	77	65.6	27/50
Makharita et al., 2015 [102]	Acyclovir + pregabalin + saline (paravertebral)	70	56.2	31/37	VAS		•	•	•	•	•
	Acyclovir + pregabalin + bupivacaine + dexamethasone (paravertebral)	73	56.8	34/36
Makharita et al., 2012 [101]	Antiviral + pregabalin + saline (SGB)	30	59.6	14/16	VAS		•	•	•	•	•
	Antiviral + pregabalin + bupivacaine + dexamethasone (SGB)	30	60.6	13/18
Krcevski Skvarc and Kamenik, 2010 [98]	Antiviral + placebo	15	63	4/11	10 point Likert scale		•	•	•
	Antiviral + pregabalin	14	67	6/8
Ji et al., 2009 [97]	Acyclovir	64	68	28/36	VAS	•	•	•	•	•	•
	Acyclovir + bupivacaine + methylprednisolone (paravertebral)	68	66	30/38
van Wijck et al., 2006 [96]	Acyclovir	297	66	116/181	VAS	•			•	•	•
	Acyclovir + bupivacaine + methylprednisolone (epidural)	301	66	118/183
Pasqualucci et al., 2000 [110]	Acyclovir + prednisolone	279	66.9	125/154	VAS	•	•	•	•	•	•
	Bupivacaine + epinephrine + methylprednisolone via epidural catheter	290	68.7	131/159
Ahmed et al., 1998 [94]	Famciclovir	25	53	11/14	VAS 100 mm		•	•	•	•	•
	PENS	25	56	12/13
Bowsher, 1997 [93]	Acyclovir + amitriptyline	9	71.3	14/24	NR	•	•	•
	Amitriptyline	29
	Acyclovir + placebo	17	72.7	14/20
	Placebo	17
Harding and Porter, 1991 [114]	Acyclovir	24	62.1	6/17	VAS 100 mm				•	•	•
	Placebo	22	70.6	9/19
Benoldi et al., 1991 [92]	Prednisolone	9	68.5	4/5	NR		•	•
	RTx	9	67.2	3/6
	Acyclovir	9	67.1	6/3
	Carbamazepine	9	63	3/6
Esmann et al., 1987 [88]	Acyclovir + prednisolone	41	72.8	17/24	Slight, moderate, sever, attacks per day, highest grading	•	•
	Acyclovir + placebo	37	71.4	8/29
Cobo et al., 1986 [87]	Acyclovir	36	NR	13/23	None, mild, moderate, severe		•
	Placebo	35		21/14
Balfour et al., 1983 [85]	Acyclovir	52	NR	29/23	NR	•	•
	Placebo	42		25/17
Esmann et al., 1982 [84]	Acyclovir	27	65.7	10/17	NR	•	•
	Placebo	29	68.6	10/19
Bean et al., 1982 [83]	Acyclovir	19	53.2	6/13	NR	•	•
	Placebo	10	50.5	7/3
Keczkes and Basheer, 1980 [115]	Prednisolone	20	66.4	14/6	NR	•
	Carbamazepine	20	68.5	14/6
Cui et al., 2018 [107]	Acyclovir + pregabalin + ropivacaine + methylprednisolone (intracutaneous)	51	61.7	21/28	VAS	•	•	•	•	•	•
	Acyclovir + pregabalin + saline (intracutaneous)	51	61.8	20/28
Cui et al., 2017 [105]	Acyclovir + ropivacaine + methylprednisolone (intracutaneous)	48	63.7	21/26	VAS	•	•	•	•	•	•
	Acyclovir	48	63.0	19/27
Ni et al., 2017 [106]	Acyclovir + triamcinolone + lidocaine (subcutaneous)	50	63.84	23/27	NRS	•	•	•
	Acyclovir	50	65.86	24/26
Zheng et al., 2019 [109]	Famciclovir + pregabalin + placebo (cervical root block)	70	63.41	31/39	11 point scale		•	•	•	•	•
	Famciclovir + pregabalin + lidocaine + triamcinolone + cobalamine (cervical root block)	70	65.84	29/41
Hwang et al., 1999 [79]	Acyclovir + bupivacaine + methylprednisolone (continuous epidural infusion)	40	60.8	18/22	VRS 0-100		•
	Acyclovir	35	56.1	9/26
Wan et al., 2019 [120]	Sham	48	64.87	20/28	VAS				•	•	•
	PRF on gasserian ganglion	48	66.01	23/25
Hügler et al., 2002 [116]	Human albumin (placebo)	20	67.65	NR	VAS	•
	VZVIG	20	71.6
Cui et al., 2016 [117]	Valacyclovir + methylene blue + lidocaine (intradermal)	32	69.5	13/19	VAS 100 mm	•	•		•
	Valacyclovir + lidocaine (intradermal)	32	72.5	11/21
Payne et al., 1989 [91]	Placebo	17	70	10/7	NR	•	•	•
	Isoprinosine	21	70	10/11
Wood et al., 1994 [111]	Acyclovir 7 days	101	58	39/62	0-5; non-noticeable to excruciating	•
	Acyclovir 7 days + prednisoone 21 days	99	59	37/62
	Acyclovir 21 days	101	59	38/63
	Acyclovir 21 days + prednisolone 21 days	99	60	39/60
McGill et al., 1983 [86]	Placebo	20	68.8	7/13	0-3		•
	Acyclovir	17	70.4	3/14
Wassilew et al., 1987 [89]	Acyclovir	29	62.5	9/20	0-5	•	•	•
	Placebo	31	63.4	6/25
Mandal et al., 1988 [90]	Acyclovir	26	67.4	11/15	0-4	•
	Placebo	30	68.4	9/21
Lee et al., 1999 [95]	Acyclovir + mepivacaine (stellate ganglion block)	10	65.0	3/7	VAS 0-100 mm				•		•
	Acyclovir	10	67.2	5/5
Harding et al., 1986 [119]	1% lignocaine & 0.5% marcaine (stellate ganglion block)	NR	71.5	NR	VAS 0-100 mm				•	•
	Placebo		72.2
Kanodia and Singhal, 2011 [99]	Acyclovir + pregabalin	23	46	19/4	VAS 100 mm				•
	Acyclovir + placebo	22	47	17/5
Kanodia et al., 2012 [100]	Acyclovir + gabapentin 300 mg/day	15	64	11/4	VAS 100 mm				•
	Acyclovir + gabapentin 600 mg/day	14	65	9/5
	Acyclovir + gabapentin 900 mg/day	13	65	10/3
	Placebo	14	63	11/3
Manabe et al., 2004 [118]	Acyclovir + bupivacaine (continous epidural infusion, intermittent epidural bolus)	29	67	9/20	VAS	•
	Acyclovir + normal saline (continous epidural infusion) + bupivacaine (intermittent epidural bolus)	27	65	13/14
Clemmensen and Andersen, 1984 [112]	ACTH	17	55	10/7	0-4	•
	Prednisolone	19	56	13/6
	Placebo	19	56	10/9
Eaglstein et al., 1970 [113]	Triamcinolone	15	NR	NR	NR		•
	Placebo	19

PHN: postherpetic neuralgia, TENS: transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, SGB: stellate ganglion block, PENS: percutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, RTx: radiotherapy, PRF: pulsed radiofrequency, VZVIG: varicella zoster vaccine immunoglobulin, ACTH: adrenocorticotropic hormone, NR: not reported, VAS: visual analogue scale, NRS: numerical rating scale.