IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 2021 Jul;68(7):2261-2269. doi: 10.1109/TBME.2021.3051307. Epub 2021 Jun 17.
Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) has been reported to alleviate pain in chronic pain patients. Currently, there is limited knowledge how TENS affects can cause cortical neuromodulation and lead to modulation of non-painful and painful sensations. Our aim was therefore to investigate the effect of conventional, high-frequency TENS on cortical activation and perceived sensations in healthy subjects. We recorded somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) and perceived sensations following high-frequency TENS (100 Hz) in 40 healthy subjects (sham and intervention group). The effect of TENS was examined up to an hour after the intervention phase, and results revealed significant cortical inhibition. We found that the magnitude of N100, P200 waves, and theta and alpha band power was significantly suppressed following the TENS intervention. These changes were associated with a simultaneous reduction in the perceived intensity and the size of the area where the sensation was felt. Although phantom limb pain relief previously has been associated with an inhibition of cortical activity, the efficacy of the present TENS intervention to induce such cortical inhibition and cause pain relief should be verified in a future clinical trial.
经皮神经电刺激（TENS）已被报道可减轻慢性疼痛患者的疼痛。目前，关于 TENS 如何影响皮质神经调节以及导致非疼痛和疼痛感觉的调节的知识有限。因此，我们的目的是研究常规高频 TENS 对健康受试者皮质激活和感知觉的影响。我们在 40 名健康受试者（假刺激和干预组）中记录了高频 TENS（100 Hz）后的体感诱发电位（SEP）和感知觉。在干预阶段后，我们检查了 TENS 的效果长达一个小时，结果显示出明显的皮质抑制。我们发现，N100、P200 波以及θ和α波段功率在 TENS 干预后显著受到抑制。这些变化与感知强度和感觉区域大小的同时减小相关。虽然先前已经将幻肢痛的缓解与皮质活动的抑制联系起来，但需要在未来的临床试验中验证本 TENS 干预措施诱导这种皮质抑制和引起疼痛缓解的效果。
