A recent study on Transcranial neurostimulation for fibromyalgia and a review of the potential benefits

Date: 03rd May 2023 | By: Dr Lourdes Gaspar

Transcranial Neurostimulation

Neuromodulation May Help Treat Women With Fibromyalgia

Active transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can help relieve pain in women suffering from fibromyalgia, according to data from a new study.

The study was a randomized, triple-blind clinical trial at the Grande Dourados University Centre, in Brazil, with the aim of analysing the effects of 10 sessions of tDCS with 13:20:13 stimulation at M1 (a specific location in the brain called the motor cortex) in women with fibromyalgia (Neuromodulation 2023 Jan 24. doi:10.1016/j.neurom.2022.11.007).

All 35 women included in the study had a fibromyalgia diagnosis and were between 18 and 59 years of age. The cohort was divided into an active tDCS arm and a sham tDCS group, both of whom received 10 therapy sessions. The active group received 2 mA of stimulation in the left primary motor cortex (M1 region) for 13 minutes, followed by a 20-minute break, and then another 13 minutes of stimulation.

Scores were based on a visual analogue scale. Patients in the active tDCS group showed improvement in pain after 10 sessions (difference in scores between groups [DBG], –4.309; P<0.001), after 30 days (DBG, –5.614; P<0.01) and after 90 days (DBG, –5.599; P<0.001).