ArticleJournal of clinical medicine2022
Scrambler Therapy for Chronic Pain after Burns and Its Effect on the Cerebral Pain Network: A Prospective, Double-Blinded, Randomized Controlled Trial.
Article in Journal of clinical medicine, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03865693 (Effects of Pain Scrambler Therapy for the Alterations of Cerebral Blood Volume in Pain Network of Neuropathic Pain on Burn Patients), which is not on this map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Effects of Pain Scrambler Therapy for the Alterations of Cerebral Blood Volume in Pain Network of Neuropathic Pain on Burn Patients
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 15 citations in OpenAlex.
- Neuropathic pain in burn patients - A common problem with little literature: A systematic review.Burns : journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries · 2024Pooled it
- Scrambler therapy for treatment of poststroke pain.Annals of clinical and translational neurology · 2024Trial
- Neuromodulation strategies in postburn care for pain rehabilitation and scar remodelling.Communications medicine · 2026Review
- Electrotherapy in the management of neuropathic corneal pain: narrative review.Experimental biology and medicine (Maywood, N.J.) · 2026Review
- Burn scar pain: from mechanisms to treatments.Frontiers in physiology · 2025Review
- Optimal Delivery of Pain Management in Schwannomatosis: A Literature Review.Therapeutics and clinical risk management · 2025Review
- Efficacy of scrambler therapy in chronic neuropathic pain: pairwise and dose-response meta-analysis.Brain network and modulationArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Chronic pain is common after burn injuries, and post-burn neuropathic pain is the most important complication that is difficult to treat. Scrambler therapy (ST) is a non-invasive modality that uses patient-specific electrocutaneous nerve stimulation and is an effective treatment for many chronic pain disorders. This study used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to evaluate the pain network-related mechanisms that underlie the clinical effect of ST in patients with chronic burn-related pain. This prospective, double-blinded, randomized controlled trial (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03865693) enrolled 43 patients who were experiencing chronic neuropathic pain after unilateral burn injuries. The patients had moderate or greater chronic pain (a visual analogue scale (VAS) score of ≥5), despite treatment using gabapentin and other physical modalities, and were randomized 1:1 to receive real or sham ST sessions. The ST was performed using the MC5-A Calmare device for ten 45 min sessions (Monday to Friday for 2 weeks). Baseline and post-treatment parameters were evaluated subjectively using the VAS score for pain and the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale; MRI was performed to identify objective central nervous system changes by measuring the cerebral blood volume (CBV). After 10 ST sessions (two weeks), the treatment group exhibited a significant reduction in pain relative to the sham group. Furthermore, relative to the pre-ST findings, the post-ST MRI evaluations revealed significantly decreased CBV in the orbito-frontal gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, superior frontal gyrus, and gyrus rectus. In addition, the CBV was increased in the precentral gyrus and postcentral gyrus of the hemisphere associated with the burned limb in the ST group, as compared with the CBV of the sham group. Thus, a clinical effect from ST on burn pain was observed after 2 weeks, and a potential mechanism for the treatment effect was identified. These findings suggest that ST may be an alternative strategy for managing chronic pain in burn patients.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.