ReviewPain and therapy2022
Deep Brain Stimulation, Stereotactic Radiosurgery and High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound Targeting the Limbic Pain Matrix: A Comprehensive Review.
Review in Pain and therapy, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 21 citations in OpenAlex.
- Multimodal abnormalities of brain function in chronic low back pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Pooled it
- Tuina Alleviates Pain Associated with Lumbar Disc Herniation by Regulating Functional Connectivity Between Inferior Frontal Triangularis and Multiple Brain Networks: A Randomized Controlled fMRI Study.Journal of pain research · 2026Trial
- Review
- Radiosurgery to the Medial Thalamus for Chronic Pain: A Single Group Experience and Review of Literature.Cureus · 2025Article
- A clinical case report on transcranial low-intensity focused ultrasound neuromodulation for central post-stroke pain.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Article
- The role of the cingulum in deep brain stimulation of the limbic pain matrix.Brain communications · 2025Article
- Sensing the Self: The Role of the Insula and Interoception in Body Image.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2025Review
- Modulating Gamma Oscillations in the Anterior Cingulate Cortex with Intermittent Theta Burst Stimulation: Implications for Chronic Non-Specific Low Back Pain.Journal of pain research · 2025Review
- Anatomo-physiological basis and applied techniques of electrical neuromodulation in chronic pain.Journal of anesthesia, analgesia and critical care · 2024Review
- The Impact of Burst Motor Cortex Stimulation on Cardiovascular Autonomic Modulation in Chronic Pain: A Feasibility Study for a New Approach to Objectively Monitor Therapeutic Effects.Pain and therapy · 2023Article
- Multimodal non-invasive non-pharmacological therapies for chronic pain: mechanisms and progress.BMC medicine · 2023Review
- Deep Brain Stimulation for Chronic Facial Pain: An Individual Participant Data (IPD) Meta-Analysis.Brain sciences · 2023Review
- Projections from the Rostral Zona Incerta to the Thalamic Paraventricular Nucleus Mediate Nociceptive Neurotransmission in Mice.Metabolites · 2023Article
- Network targets for therapeutic brain stimulation: towards personalized therapy for pain.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Editorial: Cerebral localization and neurostimulation for pain.Frontiers in neurology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Chronic pain (CP) represents a socio-economic burden for affected patients along with therapeutic challenges for currently available therapies. When conventional therapies fail, modulation of the affective pain matrix using reversible deep brain stimulation (DBS) or targeted irreversible thalamotomy by stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) and magnetic resonance (MR)-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) appear to be considerable treatment options. We performed a literature search for clinical trials targeting the affective pain circuits (thalamus, anterior cingulate cortex [ACC], ventral striatum [VS]/internal capsule [IC]). PubMed, Ovid, MEDLINE and Scopus were searched (1990-2021) using the terms "chronic pain", "deep brain stimulation", "stereotactic radiosurgery", "radioneuromodulation", "MR-guided focused ultrasound", "affective pain modulation", "pain attention". In patients with CP treated with DBS, SRS or MRgFUS the somatosensory thalamus and periventricular/periaquaeductal grey was the target of choice in most treated subjects, while affective pain transmission was targeted in a considerably lower number (DBS, SRS) consisting of the following nodi of the limbic pain matrix: the anterior cingulate cortex; centromedian-parafascicularis of the thalamus, pars posterior of the central lateral nucleus and internal capsule/ventral striatum. Although DBS, SRS and MRgFUS promoted a meaningful and sustained pain relief, an effective, evidence-based comparative analysis is biased by heterogeneity of the observation period varying between 3 months and 5 years with different stimulation patterns (monopolar/bipolar contact configuration; frequency 10-130 Hz; intensity 0.8-5 V; amplitude 90-330 μs), source and occurrence of lesioning (radiation versus ultrasound) and chronic pain ethology (poststroke pain, plexus injury, facial pain, phantom limb pain, back pain). The advancement of neurotherapeutics (MRgFUS) and novel DBS targets (ACC, IC/VS), along with established and effective stereotactic therapies (DBS-SRS), increases therapeutic options to impact CP by modulating affective, pain-attentional neural transmission. Differences in trial concept, outcome measures, targets and applied technique promote conflicting findings and limited evidence. Hence, we advocate to raise awareness of the potential therapeutic usefulness of each approach covering their advantages and disadvantages, including such parameters as invasiveness, risk-benefit ratio, reversibility and responsiveness.
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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.