Psychological, neurophysiological and therapeutic aspects of chronic pain: preliminary results with transcutaneous electrical stimulation

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Abstract
Psychological, neurophysiological and therapeutic aspects of chronic pain are reviewed in the light of recent progress achieved in the respective fields (alpha-feedback training; gate-control theory; transcutaneous electrostimulation; percutaneous stereoactic radio-frequency cordotomy). The efficacy of selective large fibre stimulation has been evaluated in 39 spinal cord injury patients suffering from chronic intractable pain of 6 to 35 months's duration. Stimulation was applied daily for 6 consecutive hours. Pain reflief was assessed by verbal and visual analogue scales and McGill's pain questionaire. After 1 week, total or almost total relief of pain was reported by 49 per cent, moderate relief by 41 per cent and no improvement by 10 per cent of the cases; at a 3-months follow-up the figures were 28 per cent, 49 per cent and 23 per cent respectively.