Clinical experiences on the effect of scrambler therapy for patients with postherpetic neuralgia

Abstract

Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) is a debilitating complication of herpes zoster, especially in elderly and comorbid patients. Unfortunately, the currently available treatments have shown limited efficacy and some adverse events that are poorly tolerated in elderly patients. Scrambler Therapy, proposed as an alternative treatment for chronic neuropathic pain recently, is a noninvasive approach to relieve pain by changing pain perception at the brain level. Here, we report our clinical experiences on the effect of Scrambler Therapy for three patients with PHN refractory to conventional treatment.

Keywords: Scrambler Therapy; chronic neuropathic pain; noninvasive approach; postherpetic neuralgia.

Fig. 1

MC5-A Model. Calmare® consists of a multiprocessor with five channels capable of treating five painful areas in the same patient simultaneously.

Fig. 2

A patient complained of pain in the right scapular area around the T3 dermatome. We applied each of 2 surface electrodes in five channels on the skin around the painful areas, not in the painful areas.

Fig. 3

Change of visual analogue scale (VAS) after Scrambler Therapy in three patients.