A Systematic Literature Review of Peripheral Nerve Stimulation Therapies for the Treatment of Pain.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

To conduct a systematic literature review of peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS) for pain.

DESIGN:

Grade the evidence for PNS.

METHODS:

An international interdisciplinary work group conducted a literature search for PNS. Abstracts were reviewed to select studies for grading. Inclusion/exclusion criteria included prospective randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with meaningful clinical outcomes that were not part of a larger or previously reported group. Excluded studies were retrospective, had less than two months of follow-up, or existed only as abstracts. Full studies were graded by two independent reviewers using the modified Interventional Pain Management Techniques-Quality Appraisal of Reliability and Risk of Bias Assessment, the Cochrane Collaborations Risk of Bias assessment, and the US Preventative Services Task Force level-of-evidence criteria.

RESULTS:

Peripheral nerve stimulation was studied in 14 RCTs for a variety of painful conditions (headache, shoulder, pelvic, back, extremity, and trunk pain). Moderate to strong evidence supported the use of PNS to treat pain.

CONCLUSION:

Peripheral nerve stimulation has moderate/strong evidence. Additional prospective trials could further refine appropriate populations and pain diagnoses.

• Authors: Timothy R Deer, Michael F Esposito, W Porter McRoberts, Jay S Grider, Dawood Sayed, Paul Verrills, Tim J Lamer, Corey W Hunter, Konstantin V Slavin, Jay M Shah, Jonathan M Hagedorn, Tom Simopoulos, David Abejon Gonzalez, Kasra Amirdelfan, Sameer Jain, Ajax Yang, Rohit Aiyer, Ajay Antony, Nomen Azeem, Robert M Levy, Nagy Mekhail
• Journal: Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.) (Pain Med) Vol. 21 Issue 8 Pg. 1590-1603 (08 01 2020) ISSN: 1526-4637 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 32803220 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Systematic Review)
• Copyright: © 2020 American Academy of Pain Medicine. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: [email protected].

Topics

• Chronic Pain
• Humans
• Low Back Pain
• Pain Management
• Peripheral Nerves
• Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation