Efficacy of anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) for the treatment of fibromyalgia: results of a randomized, sham-controlled longitudinal clinical trial (pp. 353-364)
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Authors: (Angela Valle, Suely Roizenblatt, Sueli Botte, Soroush Zaghi, Marcelo Riberto, Sergio Tufik, Paulo S. Boggio and Felipe Fregni)
Abstract: Fibromyalgia has been recognized as a central pain disorder
with evidence of neuroanatomic and neurophysiologic
alterations. Previous studies with techniques of noninvasive
brain stimulation--transcranial direct current stimulation
(tDCS) and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation
(rTMS)--have shown that these methods are associated with
a significant alleviation of fibromyalgia-associated pain and
sleep dysfunction. Here we sought to determine whether a
longer treatment protocol involving 10 sessions of 2 mA,
20 min tDCS of the left primary motor (M1) or dorsolateral
prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) could offer additional, more
long-lasting clinical benefits in the management of pain
from fibromyalgia. Methods: Forty-one women with
chronic, medically refractory fibromyalgia were
randomized to receive 10 daily sessions of M1, DLPFC, or
sham tDCS. Results: Our results show that M1 and DLPFC
stimulation both display improvements in pain scores
(VAS) and quality of life (FIQ) at the end of the treatment
protocol, but only M1 stimulation resulted in long-lasting
clinical benefits as assessed at 30 and 60 days after the end
of treatment. Conclusions: This study demonstrates the
importance of the duration of the treatment period,
suggesting that 10 daily sessions of tDCS result in more
long lasting outcomes than only five sessions. Furthermore,
this study supports the findings of a similarly designed
rTMS trial as both induce pain reductions that are equally
long-lasting.
Efficacy of anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) for the treatment of fibromyalgia: results of a randomized, sham-controlled longitudinal clinical trial (pp. 353-364)
