pain-management-2017-posters-accepted-abstracts

18 / 23

Page 64
conferenceseries.com
Volume 6, Issue 5 (Suppl) J Pain Relief, an open access journal
ISSN: 2167-0846 Pain Management 2017
October 05-06, 2017
5th International Conference and Exhibition on
October 05-06, 2017 London, UK
Pain Research And Management
Pilot evaluation of scrambler therapy for the treatment of chronic neuropathic pain
Moon Ju Ko, Je Sung Rhu and Young Bum Kim
Korea Workers' Compensation & Welfare Service Daegu Hospital, Republic of Korea
Objectives: Neuropathic pain is common after neural injury but often difficult to effectively treat. Scrambler therapy is a novel
therapeutic modality which treats pain via noninvasive cutaneous electric stimulation by providing ‘‘non-pain’’ information.
This study was performed to investigate the effect of Scrambler therapy for the treatment of chronic neuropathic pain.
Methods: Eligible patients had neuropathic pain symptoms of ≥3-month duration with pain rated as 4 or more on a visual
analogue scale (VAS) during the prior week. Patients were treated with Scrambler therapy to the affected area(s) for up to ten
daily 30-min sessions. Symptoms were monitored using a VAS ranging from 0 to 10, before and after each treatment session.
Primary outcome measure was change in VAS scores at one week; secondary outcome measure was change in VAS scores at
two weeks.
Results: Six patients were enrolled. Four patients had spinal cord injury, 1 patient had intracerebral hemorrhage and 1 patient
suffered brachial plexus injury. Treatment session 1 to 6, the difference in VAS between before and after therapy was significant
(p<0.05, paired t test), but treatment session 7 to 10, the difference in VAS between before and after therapy was not significant
(p>0.05, paired t test). At one week, the mean VAS score was reduced from 6.0 to 4.1 (32%) (p=0.037, paired t test). At two
weeks, the mean VAS score was reduced from 6.0 to 4.8 (20%) but not significant (p=0.058, paired t test). No undesirable side
effects were observed during this study.
Conclusion: Preliminary data support that Scrambler therapy may reduce chronic neuropathic pain immediately during
short-term (about 1 week), but did not reduce pain immediately after 1 week of therapy. Pain reduction effect of Scrambler
therapy did not persist beyond 1 or 2 weeks. Further randomized sham controlled research is warranted.
J Pain Relief 2017, 6:5(Suppl)
DOI: 10.4172/2167-0846-C1-015