Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Jan;26(1):98-101.
doi: 10.3344/kjp.2013.26.1.98. Epub 2013 Jan 4.

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

Young Kwon Ko  1 , Ho Young Lee, Wang Yong Lee
Affiliations

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

Young Kwon Ko et al. Korean J Pain. 2013 Jan.

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.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
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
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
Fig. 3
Change of visual analogue scale (VAS) after Scrambler Therapy in three patients.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Kim C. Pathophysiology of postherpetic neuralgia. J Korean Pain Soc. 2004;17:S13–S16.
    1. Galluzzi KE. Management strategies for herpes zoster and postherpetic neuralgia. J Am Osteopath Assoc. 2007;107:S8–S13. - PubMed
    1. Marineo G, Iorno V, Gandini C, Moschini V, Smith TJ. Scrambler therapy may relieve chronic neuropathic pain more effectively than guideline-based drug management: results of a pilot, randomized, controlled trial. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2012;43:87–95. - PubMed
    1. Marineo G. Untreatable pain resulting from abdominal cancer: new hope from biophysics? JOP. 2003;4:1–10. - PubMed
    1. Sabato AF, Marineo G, Gatti A. Scrambler therapy. Minerva Anestesiol. 2005;71:479–482. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources