title: Long-lasting analgesic effect of transcranial direct current stimulation in treatment of chronic endometriosis pain.
abstract: Approximately 10-20% of women of reproductive age suffer from endometriosis, with 70-90% of these women reporting chronic pain symptoms that persist during their menstrual cycle. We are presenting a case in which a novel form of noninvasive brain stimulation called transcranial direct current stimulation was used as an intervention in a 32-year-old woman with persistent, chronic pain symptoms caused by endometriosis for 20 years. Ten daily, 20-min sessions of 2-mA anodal transcranial direct current stimulation were applied over the left primary motor cortex. Acutely, visual analog scale pain symptoms were reduced by 60%. There were also significant decreases in modules of the Endometriosis Health Profile. At the 4-month follow-up, the patient still expressed an overall decrease in pain symptoms of 30%.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, USA.|Faculty of Psychology and Education, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.|Atieh Clinical Neuroscience Center, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rostami
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, USA.
authors.forename: Bashar W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Badran
authors.affiliation: Atieh Clinical Neuroscience Center, Tehran, Iran.|Psychology Department, Faculty of Literature and Human Science, Lorestan University, Khorram Abad, Iran.
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kazemi
authors.affiliation: Atieh Clinical Neuroscience Center, Tehran, Iran.|Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Habibnezhad
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, USA.|Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center, Charleston, South Carolina, USA.
authors.forename: Mark S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: George
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D059350:Chronic Pain / Q000628:therapy*; D004715:Endometriosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D065908:Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation
keywords: endometriosis; motor cortex; pain; transcranial direct current stimulation