Bicentre, randomized, parallel-arm, sham-controlled trial of transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) in the treatment of palliative care patients with refractory cancer pain.

Background: Pain is a common symptom in palliative care cancer patients and is often insufficiently relieved. In recent years, transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) of the motor cortex has been shown to be effective to treat chronic pain, essentially neuropathic pain. We propose to test the efficacy of tDCS in patients experiencing cancer pain in the palliative care setting.