• Melba A Hernandez-Tejada, Kathryn E Cherry, RauchSheila A MSAMDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30329, USA.Atlanta VA Healthcare System, Atlanta, GA 30329, USA., Ron Acierno, Gabriel R Fries, Wendy Muzzy, Ellen J Teng, Bethany Wangelin, and Hyochol Ahn.
• Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, McGovern Medical School, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX 77054, USA.
• Mil Med. 2023 Nov 3; 188 (11-12): 331633213316-3321.

IntroductionChronic pain and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are prevalent comorbid conditions, particularly in Veterans; however, there are few integrated treatments for chronic pain and PTSD. Instead, interventions are typically implemented separately and may involve addictive opioids. Although there are highly effective, non-pharmacological treatments for PTSD, they are plagued by high dropout, which may be exacerbated by comorbid pain, as these PTSD treatments typically require increased activity. Importantly, a noninvasive pain treatment, tDCS (transcranial direct current stimulation) shows indications of effectiveness and may be integrated with psychological treatments, even when delivered via telehealth. This study examines the feasibility and initial efficacy of integrating home telehealth tDCS with prolonged exposure (PE), an evidence-based PTSD treatment.Materials And MethodsThirty-nine Veterans were contacted, 31 consented to evaluation, 21 were enrolled, and 16 completed treatment and provided pre- and post-treatment data at one of two Veterans Affairs Medical Centers. Transcranial direct current stimulation sessions corresponded with PE exposure assignments, as there is theoretical reason to believe that tDCS may potentiate extinction learning featured in PE.ResultsPatients evinced significant improvement in both pain interference and PTSD symptoms and a trend toward improvement in depression symptoms. However, a significant change in pain intensity was not observed, likely because of the small sample size.DiscussionThe findings provide initial support for the feasibility of an entirely home-based, integrated treatment for comorbid PTSD and pain.© The Association of Military Surgeons of the United States 2022. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

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