Paper: Neural stimulation for the treatment of chronic pain in spinal cord injury

Targeted therapies using electrical and magnetic neural stimulation for the treatment of chronic pain in spinal cord injury

Neuroimage 85 (2014) 1003-1013

Ingrid Moreno-Duarte , Leslie R. Morse, Mahtab Alam, Marom Bikson, Ross Zafonte, Felipe Fregni

Download PDF: Bikson_targetedtherapy               Pubmed link

Chronic neuropathic pain is one of the most common and disabling symptoms in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). Over two-thirds of subjects with SCI suffer from chronic pain influencing quality of life, rehabilitation, and recovery. Given the refractoriness of chronic pain to most pharmacological treatments, the majority of individuals with SCI report worsening of this condition over time. Moreover, only 4–6% of patients in this cohort report improvement. Novel treatments targeting mechanisms associated with pain-maladaptive plasticity, such as electromagnetic neural stimulation, may be desirable to improve outcomes. To date, few, small clinical trials have assessed the effects of invasive and noninvasive nervous system stimulation on pain after SCI.