Coyne, P.J., Wan, W., Dodson, P., Swainey, C., & Smith, T.J. (2013). A trial of Scrambler therapy in the treatment of cancer pain syndromes and chronic chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy. Journal of Pain and Palliative Care Pharmacotherapy, 27, 359–364.
To evaluate the effectiveness of Scrambler therapy on cancer pain, chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, neuropathic pain, and quality of life
Scrambler therapy is cutaneous electrostimulation that blocks the effect of pain information on the cutaneous nerves. In this study, all participants received the intervention to the affected area for 45 minutes daily for 10 consecutive days (Monday–Friday). Pain was measured before and after each intervention session.
Improvement in pain was found at all secondary endpoints (days 14, 30, 60, 90), with a statistically significant difference in pain between baseline and day 30 (p = 0.0049) and change over time (p = 0.0002). Sensory and motor components of the chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy scale also were found to improve with statistically significant sensory improvement between baseline and day 30 (adjusted p = 0.0007) and change over time (p < 0.0001). For the motor component, significant findings included improvement between baseline and days 14, 30, and 60 (adjusted p = 0.0143, 0.1035, 0.0094, respectively) and change over time (p = 0.0019). Improvements in all components of the Brief Pain Inventory were found (i.e., “interference with normal life,” which were maintained for mood, sleep, relationships, etc). Pain interference with walking was improved significantly between baseline and day 30 (p = 0.0003). Use of opioids did not change.
Scrambler therapy improved acute and chronic pain among patients with cancer. Additionally, it had a lasting effect three months post-treatment. Quality of life also was improved with this pain treatment. Further study is needed to determine generalizability of these findings to other patients with cancer.
Scrambler therapy appears to be a promising intervention for cancer-related pain and has no adverse effects. Because who delivers this treatment and its expense are unclear from this article, the implications to nursing are unclear. However, nurses knowing about this treatment is important because it may become a common method for treating cancer-related pain in the future.