Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28321566›Full record

Trial reportJournal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996)2017

Differential effects of bifrontal and occipital nerve stimulation on pain and fatigue using transcranial direct current stimulation in fibromyalgia patients.

Wing Ting To, Evan James, Jan Ost, John Hart, Dirk De Ridder, Sven Vanneste

Abstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996), 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
24citing papers in PubMed, 6 pooled it
1.6field-weighted citation impact, top 17% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

24 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 47 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  7. Active and sham transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) improved quality of life in female patients with fibromyalgia.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2022
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  13. EEG connectivity features associated with fibromyalgia revealed by machine learning.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2025
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.

Wing Ting ToCenter for Brain Health, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, 2200 W Mockingbird Lane, Dallas, TX, 75235, USA. wingting.to@utdallas.edu.ORCID 0000-0002-0570-503X
Evan JamesLab for Clinical and Integrative Neuroscience, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA.
Jan OstBrai2n Clinic, St Augustinus, Antwerp, Belgium.
John HartCenter for Brain Health, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, 2200 W Mockingbird Lane, Dallas, TX, 75235, USA.
Dirk De RidderSection of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgical Sciences, Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Sven VannesteLab for Clinical and Integrative Neuroscience, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA.
The University of Texas at Dallas · USGZA Ziekenhuizen Campus Sint-Augustinus · BEUniversity of Otago · NZ

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Fibromyalgia is a disorder characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain frequently accompanied by other symptoms such as fatigue. Moderate improvement from pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments have proposed non-invasive brain stimulation techniques such as transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to the occipital nerve (more specifically the C2 area) or to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) as potential treatments. We aimed to explore the effectiveness of repeated sessions of tDCS (eight sessions) targeting the C2 area and DLPFC in reducing fibromyalgia symptoms, more specifically pain and fatigue. Forty-two fibromyalgia patients received either C2 tDCS, DLPFC tDCS or sham procedure (15 C2 tDCS-11 DLPFC tDCS-16 sham). All groups were treated with eight sessions (two times a week for 4 weeks). Our results show that repeated sessions of C2 tDCS significantly improved pain, but not fatigue, in fibromyalgia patients, whereas repeated sessions of DLPFC tDCS significantly improved pain as well as fatigue. This study shows that eight sessions of tDCS targeting the DLPFC have a more general relief in fibromyalgia patients than when targeting the C2 area, suggesting that stimulating different targets with eight sessions of tDCS can lead to benefits on different symptom dimensions of fibromyalgia.

Indexed as

AdultAgedFatigueFemaleFibromyalgiaHumansMaleMiddle AgedOccipital LobePainPrefrontal CortexSingle-Blind MethodTranscranial Direct Current StimulationTreatment OutcomeDLFPC stimulationFibromyalgiaNon-invasiveOccipital nerve stimulationTranscranial direct current stimulation

Identifiers

PMID28321566
OpenAlexW2600391220

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.