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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Neurol.
Sec. Neurorehabilitation
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fneur.2024.1451456
This article is part of the Research Topic Exploring Evidence for Neurorehabilitation Advancements View all 23 articles

Electrotherapy as treatment for chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy -a randomized controlled trial

Provisionally accepted
Robert Sassmann Robert Sassmann 1Simon Peter Gampenrieder Simon Peter Gampenrieder 2Florian Rieder Florian Rieder 1*Tim Johansson Tim Johansson 3Gabriel Rinnerthaler Gabriel Rinnerthaler 4Vanessa Castagnaviz Vanessa Castagnaviz 4Katrin Lampl Katrin Lampl 1Jürgen Herfert Jürgen Herfert 5Yvonne Theres Kienberger Yvonne Theres Kienberger 1Maria Flamm Maria Flamm 3Dagmar Schaffler-Schaden Dagmar Schaffler-Schaden 3Richard Greil Richard Greil 4
  • 1 Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria
  • 2 2 IIIrd Medical Department with Haematology, Medical Oncology, Haemostaseology, Infectiology and Rheumatology, Oncologic Center, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria
  • 3 Institute of General Practice, Family Medicine and Preventive Medicine, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
  • 4 IIIrd Medical Department with Haematology, Medical Oncology, Haemostaseology, Infectiology and Rheumatology, Oncologic Center, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria
  • 5 Red Bull Athlete Performance Center, Thalgau, Austria

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    BACKGROUND: Electrotherapy has been investigated in chronic pain and diabetic peripheral neuropathy, however prospective trials in patients with chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) are scarce.METHODS: Fifty-one patients with CIPN ≥ grade 1 subsequent to receiving platinum-and/or taxane-based chemotherapy types were randomized to 8 weeks of high tone external muscle stimulation (HTEMS) or transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS). The primary outcome were changes in the EORTC-QLQ-CIPN20 questionnaire. Secondary outcomes included clinical examinations, a classification of CIPN according to CTCAE v 4 and the EORTC-QLQ-C30 questionnaire. A control group (n=17) receiving no intervention was recruited retrospectively.The EORTC-QLQ-CIPN20 sensory and motor scales improved in both intervention groups (TENS: -12.3pts and -8.2pts; HTEMS: -14.7pts and -8.2pts) with no significant changes in the control group -3.3pts; -2.8pts). The changes in the sensory scale differed significantly between the HTEMS and the control group. In the EORTC-QLQ-C30 questionnaire, there was a significant improvement for physical functioning in the HTEMS group only (+7.9pts) with no between group differences. CIPN classification according to CTCAE v4 improved significantly in both intervention groups.CONCLUSION: Home-based electrotherapy with HTEMS or TENS were successful in improving CIPN-related sensory impairment and could therefore provide a powerful treatment for this sideeffect of chemotherapy.

    Keywords: HTEMS1, TENS2, high thone therapy3, CIPN204, QLQ-c305

    Received: 20 Jun 2024; Accepted: 04 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Sassmann, Gampenrieder, Rieder, Johansson, Rinnerthaler, Castagnaviz, Lampl, Herfert, Kienberger, Flamm, Schaffler-Schaden and Greil. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Florian Rieder, Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria

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