Systematic Review to Identify Predictors of Treatment Response to Neuromodulation in Patients With Neuropathic Pain—Protocol



Kansal, Anu, Duarte, Rui, Copley, Sue, Warren, Fiona C, Taylor, Rod S and Eldabe, Sam
(2022) Systematic Review to Identify Predictors of Treatment Response to Neuromodulation in Patients With Neuropathic Pain—Protocol. Neuromodulation: Technology at the Neural Interface, 26 (8). pp. 1493-1498.

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Abstract

<h4>Objectives</h4>Patients who suffer from long-term, neuropathic pain that proves refractory to conventional medical management are high consumers of health care resources and experience poorer physical and mental health than people with other forms of pain. Pharmacologic treatments have adverse effects; nonpharmacologic interventions have limitations. Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) is an effective treatment for neuropathic pain, although 30% to 40% of patients fail to achieve acceptable levels of pain relief. There are currently no objective methods to predict the success of SCS to treat neuropathic pain, and therefore, it is important to understand which patient factors may be predictive of a lack of response to SCS, to inform future patient treatment options. This study proposes a protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis of published studies to examine these predictive factors.<h4>Materials and methods</h4>Several bibliographic databases will be searched to identify relevant studies published since 2012 that provide data on patient characteristics (eg, age, gender, pain severity) as predictors of SCS outcomes of pain, function, and health-related quality of life. Two independent reviewers will screen citations; data will be extracted after full-text screening. Risk of bias will be assessed using the Quality In Prognosis Studies tool.<h4>Results</h4>A formal quantitative synthesis is planned in which data from studies with the same predictive factors are available; this will be considered for pooling into separate meta-analyses. In cases of high heterogeneity or inconsistency in the data, subgroup analysis will be conducted.<h4>Conclusions</h4>This study seeks to provide a contemporary review of patient predictors of success of neuromodulation for neuropathic pain. We anticipate that findings may guide the use of neuromodulation in patient subgroups and the design and reporting of future clinical studies in this field.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Humans, Neuralgia, Quality of Life, Meta-Analysis as Topic, Pain Management, Chronic Pain, Spinal Cord Stimulation, Systematic Reviews as Topic
Divisions: Faculty of Health and Life Sciences
Faculty of Health and Life Sciences > Institute of Population Health
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 12 Sep 2022 09:15
Last Modified: 20 Jan 2024 01:50
DOI: 10.1016/j.neurom.2022.07.010
Related URLs:
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3164253