Der Schmerz
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Headache can be a widespread symptom as well as a disorder in itself. Headache syndromes such as migraine cause a lot of distress, disability and overall socioeconomic costs. Pharmacological treatments are often limited in their efficacy as well as due to side effects. ⋯ Our results show a large number of highly favorable reports of treatment successes. However, the number of cases analysed is often rather small and the forms of electric stimulation applied were often highly heterogeneous. In summary, electric stimulation appears to be a promising field of research and a possible therapeutic agent for the treatment of headaches; however, further research is necessary, especially into the details of the stimulation techniques applied and the various indications in which it may be of use.
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Chronic pain is a common health problem, for which the treatment is complex and challenging. Non-invasive brain stimulation techniques, specifically transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS), show promise as a well-tolerated new therapeutic modality with few side effects. This is supported by growing evidence of an association between altered neuronal oscillations and chronic pain. However, to date, only a handful of studies with variable methodology have evaluated tACS for potential applicability to patients with chronic pain. ⋯ These data currently do not provide sufficient evidence for the therapeutic use of tACS for chronic pain therapy. Future studies may address the question of a therapeutic benefit of tACS for this indication utilizing improved stimulation techniques and considering existing recommendations for the design and conduct of tACS studies.
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Recently, digital tools, such as smartphone-based applications and the use of artificial intelligence have increasingly found their way into pain medicine. This could enable new treatment approaches in postoperative pain management. Therefore, this article provides an overview of various digital tools and their potential application options in postoperative pain management. ⋯ The use of digital tools, although so far integrated in clinical routine in a relatively selective and exemplary manner, promises to be an innovative approach for personalized postoperative pain therapy in the future. Future studies and projects should help to integrate the promising research approaches into everyday clinical practice.