Psychologically based interventions for adults with chronic neuropathic pain: a scoping review.

Objective: As psychologically based interventions have been shown to have clinical utility for adults with chronic pain generally, a similar benefit might be expected in the management of chronic neuropathic pain (NeuP). However, to date, this has not been established, with existing systematic reviews on this topic being hampered by the scarcity of randomized controlled trials (RCTs). This review aimed to identify the type of psychologically based interventions studied for adults with chronic NeuP.

A Systematic Review of the Variation in Pain Catastrophizing Scale Reference Scores Based on Language Version and Country in Patients with Chronic Primary (Non-specific) Pain.

Introduction: This systematic review aimed to investigate variations of reference scores for the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS) between language versions and between countries in patients with chronic primary pain (CPP) or chronic primary pain, not otherwise specified (CPP-NOS).

Methods: Electronic searches of the Ovid/Embase, Ovid/MEDLINE, and Ovid/PsycINFO databases were conducted to retrieve studies assessing PCS scores in adults with CPP or CPP-NOS proposed by the International Classification of Diseases, Eleventh Revision for any country where the translated PCS was available. The protocol for this systematic review was prospectively registered on the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews 2018 (registration number: CRD 42018086719).

An Exploratory EEG Analysis on the Effects of Virtual Reality in People with Neuropathic Pain Following Spinal Cord Injury.

Neuropathic pain in people with spinal cord injury is thought to be due to altered central neuronal activity. A novel therapeutic intervention using virtual reality (VR) head-mounted devices was investigated in this study for pain relief. Given the potential links to neuronal activity, the aim of the current study was to determine whether use of VR was associated with corresponding changes in electroencephalography (EEG) patterns linked to the presence of neuropathic pain.

Patient names for mechanical circulatory support devices: Developing emotional insights.

Background: Patients with mechanical circulatory support devices regularly experience positive and negative emotions which are reinforced through interactions with their device. We explored emotional relationships between patients and their MCS devices through the names they assign to those devices.

Objectives: We sought to characterise device naming and suggest future developments which might capitalise on the naming phenomenon to improve patient wellbeing.

Transcranial direct current stimulation for spinal cord injury-associated neuropathic pain.

Several types of pain occur following spinal cord injury (SCI); however, neuropathic pain (NP) is one of the most intractable. Invasive and non-invasive brain stimulation techniques have been studied in clinical trials to treat chronic NP following SCI. The evidence for invasive stimulation including motor cortex and deep brain stimulation via the use of implanted electrodes to reduce SCI-related NP remains limited, due to the small scale of existing studies.