Mechanisms and Treatment of Post-amputation Neuropathic Pain
Status:
Not yet recruiting
Trial end date:
2022-12-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Phantom and residual limb pain are types of peripheral neuropathic pain that are difficult to
treat and where the underlying mechanisms are still not fully understood. Repetitive
transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) of the motor cortex is an increasingly studied
technique for the treatment of neuropathic pain and has shown modest effects in pain
intensity reduction for the treatment of neuropathic pain. Newer rTMS coils provide the
opportunity to stimulate larger brain areas, which could provide a better treatment option
compared to conventional coils. The aims of this study are to investigate whether the
peripheral nervous system is a necessary driver of phantom limb pain and/or residual limb
pain in patients with lower limb amputation using spinal anaesthesia, and to assess the
analgesic efficacy of deep H-coil rTMS compared to sham stimulation in the same patients.