Kaye Alan D, Allen Kaitlyn E, Shah Shivam S, Smith Summer A, Plaisance Taylor R, Brouillette Amy E, Despanie Dani'elle J, Payton Tayler D, Rieger Ross, Singh Naina, Ahmadzadeh Shahab, Gennuso Sonja, Shekoohi Sahar
Departments of Anesthesiology and Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Neurosciences, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Shreveport, Shreveport, LA, 71103, USA.
Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center New Orleans School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA, 70112, USA.
Curr Pain Headache Rep. 2025 Jan 4;29(1):5. doi: 10.1007/s11916-024-01337-0.
The present investigation assesses efficacy of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) on relief of cancer or chemotherapy-related pain. Patients with cancer experience a relatively high prevalence of pain that is reportedly undertreated. Therefore, this analysis is pertinent to determine if TENS is a useful complementary therapy considering its increase in accessibility and minimal side effect profile.
A systematic search for eligible studies from PubMed, Google Scholar, Cochrane, and Embase was performed. The present investigation elucidated any significant differences between change in numeric rating scale of average and maximum pain scores between a TENS and non-TENS group. A nonsignificant difference was reported between TENS and non-TENS, with a mean difference of - 0.393 (95% CI - 1.780, 0.993; P = 0.578). For change in maximum pain reported, a nonsignificant difference was also found, with a mean difference of 0.128 (95% CI - 1.158, 1.414; P = 0.845).
Related to various limitations of this meta-analysis, no definitive conclusions could be concluded regarding efficacy of TENS in the treatment of cancer or chemotherapy-related pain. Additional randomized primary studies with standardized treatment protocols and pain measurements are needed for future meta-analysis and recommendations for clinical practice.
本研究评估经皮电刺激神经疗法（TENS）缓解癌症或化疗相关疼痛的疗效。癌症患者中疼痛的发生率相对较高，据报道其疼痛治疗不足。因此，鉴于TENS的可及性增加且副作用最小，本分析对于确定其是否为一种有用的辅助疗法具有重要意义。
我们对来自PubMed、谷歌学术、Cochrane和Embase的符合条件的研究进行了系统检索。本研究阐明了TENS组和非TENS组之间平均疼痛评分和最大疼痛评分的数字评分量表变化的任何显著差异。TENS组和非TENS组之间差异无统计学意义，平均差值为-0.393（95%可信区间-1.780，0.993；P=0.578）。对于所报告的最大疼痛变化，也发现差异无统计学意义，平均差值为0.128（95%可信区间-1.158，1.414；P=0.845）。
鉴于该荟萃分析存在各种局限性，关于TENS治疗癌症或化疗相关疼痛的疗效无法得出明确结论。未来的荟萃分析和临床实践建议需要更多采用标准化治疗方案和疼痛测量方法的随机原发性研究。
