Transcranial direct current stimulation (TDCS) in patients with chronic neuropatic pain with heat sensation: A case report

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive therapy to modulate neuronal activity, thus can be used as an analgesic therapy in chronic pain. tDCS is done by placing electrodes to reduce the chronic pain threshold. This therapy has been widely used for several types of pain, but data has not been obtained for the treatment of heat sensation neuropathic pain. Male, 46th years old, came with complaints of heat pain in both palms and soles since 2017 when the patient is exposed to hot temperatures. The patient was given analgesics for approximately 4 years, however there is no improvement in the pain quality. Treatment using tDCS was carried out once, and resulted in reduction of the pain intensity, from NRS=7 to NRS=5.tDCS as non-invasive interventional therapy can be considered in chronic neuropathic pain heat sensation type in combination with oral analgesics therapy. This article aims to provide knowledge for the development of future tDCS clinical trials.