Trial reportPloS one2021
Cervical transcutaneous vagal neuromodulation in chronic pancreatitis patients with chronic pain: A randomised sham controlled clinical trial.
Trial report in PloS one, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03357029 (Neuromodulation in Patients With Painful Chronic Pancreatitis - A Randomized, Double-blind, Sham-controlled, Prospective, Cross-over, Controlled Study in Chronic Pain Investigating if a Novel Vagal Neuromodulation Approach Provides Analgesic Benefit Through Central Mechanisms in Patients With Chronic Pancreatitis), which is not on this map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled 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.
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.
Neuromodulation in Patients With Painful Chronic Pancreatitis - A Randomized, Double-blind, Sham-controlled, Prospective, Cross-over, Controlled Study in Chronic Pain Investigating if a Novel Vagal Neuromodulation Approach Provides Analgesic Benefit Through Central Mechanisms in Patients With Chronic Pancreatitis
Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- Safety of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS): a systematic review and meta-analysis.Scientific reports · 2022Pooled it
- Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation as a pain modulator in knee osteoarthritis: a randomized controlled clinical trial.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2025Trial
- Transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation for treating gastrointestinal symptoms in individuals with diabetes: a randomised, double-blind, sham-controlled, multicentre trial.Diabetologia · 2024Trial
- Effects of Transcutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation on Gastrointestinal Symptoms and Cardiovascular Autonomic Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Neurology international · 2026Review
- Pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies for chronic pancreatitis pain: a narrative review.Frontiers in physiology · 2026Review
- Effects of Music Intervention on Pain, Mood, Sleep, and Heart Rate Variability in Patients with Chronic Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of pain research · 2026Article
- α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor agonist attenuates lipopolysaccharide-induced acute kidney injury in mice by reducing CCL2 expression in macrophages.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Vagus nerve stimulation for chronic pain management: Mechanisms and clinical advances.Journal of biological methods · 2025Review
- Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS): recent advances and future directions.Clinical autonomic research : official journal of the Clinical Autonomic Research Society · 2024Review
- A pilot randomized controlled trial of transcranial direct current stimulation adjunct to moderate-intensity aerobic exercise in hypertensive individuals.Frontiers in neuroergonomics · 2024Article
- Management of chronic pancreatitis: recent advances and future prospects.Therapeutic advances in gastroenterology · 2024Review
- Alpha 7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors signaling boosts cell-cell interactions in macrophages effecting anti-inflammatory and organ protection.Communications biology · 2023Article
- Neuroimmunomodulation of vagus nerve stimulation and the therapeutic implications.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BACKGROUND &
aimsChronic abdominal pain is the primary symptom of chronic pancreatitis, but unfortunately it is difficult to treat. Vagal nerve stimulation studies have provided evidence of anti-nociceptive effect in several chronic pain conditions. We investigated the pain-relieving effects of transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation in comparison to sham treatment in chronic pancreatitis patients.
methodsWe conducted a randomised double-blinded, sham-controlled, crossover trial in patients with chronic pancreatitis. Patients were randomly assigned to receive a two-week period of cervical transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation using the gammaCore device followed by a two-week sham stimulation, or vice versa. We measured clinical and experimental endpoints before and after each treatment. The primary clinical endpoint was pain relief, documented in a pain diary using a visual analogue scale. Secondary clinical endpoints included Patients' Global Impression of Change score, quality of life and Brief Pain Inventory questionnaire. Secondary experimental endpoints included cardiac vagal tone and heart rate.
resultsNo differences in pain scores were seen in response to two weeks transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation as compared to sham treatment (difference in average pain score (visual analogue scale): 0.17, 95%CI (-0.86;1.20), P = 0.7). Similarly, no differences were seen for secondary clinical endpoints, except from an increase in the appetite loss score (13.9, 95%CI (0.5:27.3), P = 0.04). However, improvements in maximum pain scores were seen for transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation and sham treatments as compared to their respective baselines: vagal nerve stimulation (-1.3±1.7, 95%CI (-2.21:-0.42), P = 0.007), sham (-1.3±1.9, 95%CI (-2.28:-0.25), P = 0.018). Finally, heart rate was decreased after two weeks transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation in comparison to sham treatment (-3.7 beats/min, 95%CI (-6.7:-0.6), P = 0.02).
conclusionIn this sham-controlled crossover study, we found no evidence that two weeks transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation induces pain relief in patients with chronic pancreatitis. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: The study is registered at NCT03357029; www.clinicaltrials.gov.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.