• Jennifer S Gewandter, Eva Culakova, Jenae N Davis, Umang Gada, Joseph J Guido, James D Bearden, Brain Burnette, Dhaval Shah, Gary R Morrow, Karen Mustian, Kathleen A Sluka, and Nimish Mohile.
• Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York.
• J Pain. 2024 May 1; 25 (5): 104431104431.

AbstractChemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) affects approximately 30 to 60% of people who receive neurotoxic chemotherapy. CIPN is associated with impaired quality of life and function and has few effective treatments. This 6-site, subject and assessor-blinded randomized clinical trial (RCT) was designed to assess 1) preliminary efficacy (ie, alpha pre-specified at .2) of a wearable, app-controlled, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) device for chronic CIPN and 2) feasibility of conducting a confirmatory trial within the National Cancer Institute Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP) (NCT04367480). The primary outcome was the EORTC-CIPN20. The main secondary outcomes were individual symptoms assessed daily (via 0-10 numeric rating scales). The primary analysis was an analysis of covariance (outcome: EORTC-CIPN20, fixed effect: arm, covariates: baseline EORTC-CIPN20 and site). Secondary analyses used a similar analysis of covariance models (excluding site) for each symptom on subgroups of subjects with ≥4 out of 10 for that symptom at baseline. 142 eligible subjects were randomized and received a device; 130 (91%) completed the study. The difference between groups in the EORCT-CIPN20 at the endpoint (placebo-active) was 1.05 (95% Confidence Interval: -.56, 2.67; P = .199). The difference between groups for the individual symptoms was as follows: hot/burning pain: 1.37 (-.33, 3.08; P = .112), sharp/shooting pain: 1.21 (-.37, 2.79; P = .128), cramping: 1.35 (-.32, 3.02; P = .110), tingling: .23 (-.61, 1.08; P = .587), numbness: .27 (-.51, 1.05; P = .492). An RCT of an app-controlled TENS device for chronic CIPN with excellent retention is feasible in the NCORP. Preliminary efficacy evidence suggests that TENS is promising for pain and cramping from CIPN. A confirmatory RCT of TENS for painful CIPN is highly warranted. PERSPECTIVE: Daily, home-based TENS therapy demonstrates promising efficacy for painful CIPN symptoms in this proof-of-concept randomized clinical trial. Future confirmatory trial is warranted.Copyright © 2024 United States Association for the Study of Pain, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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