Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Is Efficacious as an Add-On to Pharmacological Therapy in Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) Type I

Single session repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) of the motor cortex (M1) is effective in the treatment of chronic pain patients but the analgesic effect of repeated sessions is still unknown We evaluated the effects of rTMS in patients with refractory pain due to complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) type I Twenty three patients presenting CRPS type I of 1 upper limb were treated with the best medical treatment (analgesics and adjuvant medications physical therapy) plus 10 daily sessions of either real (r) or sham (s) 10Hz rTMS to the motor cortex (M1) Patients were assessed daily and after 1 week and 3 months after the last session using the Visual Analogical Scale (VAS) the McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ) the Health Survey 36 (SF 36) and the Hamilton Depression (HDRS) During treatment there was a significant reduction in the VAS scores favoring the r rTMS group mean reduction of 4 65 cm (50 9%) against 2 18 cm (24 7%) in the s rTMS group The highest reduction occurred at the tenth session and correlated to improvement in the affective and emotional subscores of the MPQ and SF 36 Real rTMS to the M1 produced analgesic effects and positive changes in affective aspects of pain in CRPS patients during the period of stimulation Perspective This study shows an efficacy of repetitive sessions of high frequency rTMS as an add on therapy to refractory CAPS type I patients It had a positive effect in different aspects of pain (sensory discriminative and emotional affective) It opens the perspective for the clinical use of this technique (C) 2010 by the American Pain Society