Postherpetic neuralgia is a common chronic and intractable neuropathic pain.In recent years,a growing number of neuroimaging studies have used MRI to explore the different effects of postherpetic neuralgia on brain structure and function.This paper reviews the research progress of postherpetic neuralgia from various MRI techniques,revealing the remodeling mechanism of the central nervous system,such as abnormalities in various brain functional networks and activation of pain-related brain regions,to provide a reference for clinical auxiliary diagnosis and objective evaluation.

Postherpetic neuralgia is a common chronic and intractable neuropathic pain.In recent years,a growing number of neuroimaging studies have used MRI to explore the different effects of postherpetic neuralgia on brain structure and function.This paper reviews the research progress of postherpetic neuralgia from various MRI techniques,revealing the remodeling mechanism of the central nervous system,such as abnormalities in various brain functional networks and activation of pain-related brain regions,to provide a reference for clinical auxiliary diagnosis and objective evaluation.