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Review

Effectiveness of repetitive trancranial or peripheral magnetic stimulation in neuropathic pain

, , &
Pages 856-866 | Received 03 Sep 2015, Accepted 21 Mar 2016, Published online: 05 Aug 2016
 

Abstract

Purpose: Maladaptive plasticity in the sensorimotor system, following neurological lesions or diseases, plays a central role in the generation and maintenance of neuropathic pain. Repetitive magnetic stimulation of the central and peripheral nervous system has gained relevance as noninvasive approach for neuromodulation and pain relief. Systematic reviews that evaluate the effectiveness and specificity of different protocols of repetitive magnetic stimulation to control neuropathic pain in clinical populations have the potential to improve the therapeutic applicability of this technique.

Methods: Studies whose primary goal was to evaluate the effectiveness of repetitive magnetic stimulation for the treatment of various types of neuropathic pain published in PubMed until August 2015 have been included in this systematic review.

Results: A total of 39 articles fulfilling the inclusion criteria were analyzed of which 37 studies investigated pain modulation using repetitive magnetic stimulation over the motor or non-motor cortices and two studies evaluated pain modulation using repetitive peripheral magnetic stimulation protocols.

Conclusions: Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation of the primary motor cortex using high frequency stimulation protocols can effectively reduce neuropathic pain, particularly in individuals with pain related to non-cerebral lesions. The application of multiple sessions can lead to long-lasting pain modulation and cumulative effects.

    Implications for Rehabilitation

  • Maladaptive plasticity plays a central role in sensitization of nociceptive pathways, generation and maintainance of neuropathic pain;

  • Most neuropathic pain conditions are refractory to pharmacological therapies;

  • Repetitive magnetic stimulation of the central and peripheral nervous system has gained relevance as noninvasive approach for neuromodulation and pain relief.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper.

Funding information

This work was supported in part by grants from Foundation la Marató TV3 PI110931 to HK. We would also like to thank the NEUROTEC - Red Temática de Investigación en Neurotecnologías para la Asistencia y la Rehabilitación (DPI2015–69098-REDT) for their support.

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