Park HS, Kim JH. Effect of transcranial direct current stimulation on supernumerary phantom limb pain in spinal cord injured patient: A case report. World J Clin Cases 2024; 12(17): 3177-3182 [PMID: 38898872 DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v12.i17.3177]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Jae-Hyung Kim, MD, PhD, Department of Interventional Physiatry, Eulji University Medical Center, #95, Dunsanseo-Ro, Seo-Gu, Daejeon, 35233, South Korea. jaehyungkim1968@gmail.com
Research Domain of This Article
Rehabilitation
Article-Type of This Article
Case Report
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Clin Cases. Jun 16, 2024; 12(17): 3177-3182 Published online Jun 16, 2024. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v12.i17.3177
Effect of transcranial direct current stimulation on supernumerary phantom limb pain in spinal cord injured patient: A case report
Hyo-Sik Park, Jae-Hyung Kim
Hyo-Sik Park, Jae-Hyung Kim, Department of Interventional Physiatry, Eulji University Medical Center, Seo-Gu, Daejeon, South Korea
Author contributions: Kim JH designed and conducted this study, including patient recruitment and data collection; Park HS assisted with data collection, performed data analysis, and prepared the manuscript draft with input from Kim JH; All authors approved the final manuscript.
Informed consent statement: Informed written consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this report and any accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest to disclose.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Jae-Hyung Kim, MD, PhD, Department of Interventional Physiatry, Eulji University Medical Center, #95, Dunsanseo-Ro, Seo-Gu, Daejeon, 35233, South Korea. jaehyungkim1968@gmail.com
Received: January 29, 2024 Revised: April 13, 2024 Accepted: April 25, 2024 Published online: June 16, 2024
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Supernumerary phantom limb (SPL) sensation is the experience of additional limbs, either single or a pair of limbs. Unique to traumatic spinal cord injuries, we report effect of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on SPL pain in a patient with cervical cord injury.
CASE SUMMARY
The subject was a 57-year-old man who was diagnosed with complete spinal cord injury (C6/C5, motor level; C5/C5, sensory level; AIS-A) approximately three months ago. After a period of 2 wk, we administered anodal tDCS over the motor cortex for 15 minutes at an intensity of 1.5 mA. Following that treatment, the patient experienced a decrease of SPL pain intensity and frequency, which lasted for 1 week after the end of treatment.
CONCLUSION
Targeting the motor cortex through neuromodulation appears to be a promising option for the management of SPL pain.
Core tip: Supernumerary phantom limb (SPL) sensation is the experience of additional limbs, either a single or a pair of limbs. SPL after a traumatic spinal cord injury is extremely rare and SPL pain is unique. Regarding SPL pain, there is no established standard treatment yet. We administered anodal transcranial direct current stimulation over the motor cortex for 15 min at an intensity of 1.5 mA. After the management, the patient experienced a decrease in SPL pain intensity and frequency. Targeting the motor cortex through neuromodulation appears to be a promising option for the management of supernumerary phantom limb pain.
