Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation to Treat Neuropathic Pain: A Bibliometric Analysis

Carneiro, B. D.; Tavares, I.

Abstract:

Neuropathic pain is caused by a lesion or disease of the somatosensory system and is one of the most incapacitating pain types, representing a significant non-met medical need. Due to the increase in research in the field and since innovative therapeutic strategies are required, namely in intractable neuropathic pain, neurostimulation has been used. Within this approach, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) that uses a transient magnetic field to produce electrical currents over the cortex emerges as a popular method in the literature. Since this is an area in expansion and due to the putative role of TMS, we performed a bibliometric analysis in Scopus with the primary objective of identifying the scientific production related to the use of TMS to manage neuropathic pain. The research had no restrictions, and the analysis focused on the characteristics of the literature retrieved, scientific collaboration and main research topics from inception to 6 July 2023. A total of 474 articles were collected. A biggest co-occurrence between the terms “neuropathic pain” and “transcranial magnetic stimulation” was obtained. The journal “Clinical Neurophysiology” leads the Top 5 most productive sources. The United States is the most productive country, with 50% of US documents being “review articles”, followed by France, with 56% of French documents being “original articles”. Lefaucheur, JP and Saitoh, Y are the two most influential authors. The most frequent type of document was “original article”. Most of the studies (34%) that identified the neuropathic pain type focused on traumatic neuropathic pain, although a large proportion (38%) did not report the neuropathic pain type. This study allows us to provide a general overview of the field of TMS application for neuropathic pain and is useful for establishing future directions of research in this field.

Patologie/Applicazioni:

• Terapia del dolore
• Stimolazione Magnetica Transcranica (TMS)

Anno:

2024

Tipo di pubblicazione:

Articolo

Parola chiave:

TMS; stimolazione magnetica transcranica; dolore; dolore neuropatico

Testata scientifica:

National Center of Biotechnology Information

Mese:

03

Nota:

Questo articolo si pone come obiettivo di mettere in luce la relazione tra il dolore neuropatico, inteso in tutte le sue forme e varianti, e la stimolazione magnetica transcranica. Si tratta di una ricerca bibliografica in cui le keyword di ognuno dei 474 articoli presi in esame vengono collegate tra loro a formare un grafo che metta in evidenza le relazioni tra i diversi ambiti di studio specifici. I termini “dolore neuropatico” e “TMS” sono al centro del grafo e si collegano ad altri termini specifici come “effetto terapeutico”, “neuromodulazione” e “neuroplasticità”. Si evidenzia inoltre il continuo aumento di interesse per questi argomenti, trend che va avanti dai primi anni 2000 e mostra come si è passati dalla singola pubblicazione del 2001 su dolore neuropatico e TMS fino agli oltre 40 articoli l’anno dal 2020 in poi.

DOI:

10.3390/healthcare12050555