Peripheral Percutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation for Neuropathies: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Area of Science:

• Neurology
• Pain Management
• Physical Therapy

Background:

• Neuropathic pain significantly impacts patients' quality of life, often requiring multimodal treatment approaches.
• Current treatment options for neuropathic pain have limitations and can lead to adverse effects.
• Peripheral Percutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (PENS) is an emerging modality for pain management.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the current evidence on the effectiveness of Peripheral Percutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (PENS) for treating neuropathic pain.
• To demonstrate the application and updated protocols of PENS in managing neuropathies.
• To synthesize findings from randomized clinical trials evaluating PENS efficacy.

Main Methods:

• Systematic search of randomized clinical trials in PubMed, PEDro, and Cochrane databases.
• Inclusion of studies evaluating PENS for pain intensity, sleep quality, analgesic intake, and depression in neuropathic pain.
• Meta-analysis using RevMan 5.4 software with appropriate statistical methods for data synthesis.

Main Results:

• Four studies met the inclusion criteria, contributing to a qualitative and quantitative synthesis.
• Significant improvements were observed in pain intensity (p < .05), sleep quality (p < .05), and reductions in medication intake (p < .05) and depressive behaviors (p < .05).
• The overall methodological quality of the included studies was moderate, with an unclear risk of bias.

Conclusions:

• Limited scientific evidence currently supports the use of PENS for neuropathies.
• PENS demonstrates encouraging potential as a therapeutic tool in physiotherapy for neuropathic pain.
• Further research is essential to establish standardized protocols and optimize PENS application for various neuropathic conditions.