TY - GEN
T1 - Transcutaneous Electrical Stimulation Influences the Time-Frequency Map of Cortical Activity - A Pilot Study
AU - Zarei, Ali Asghar
AU - Faghani Jadidi, Armita
AU - Lontis, Romulus
AU - Jensen, Winnie
PY - 2020/7/20
Y1 - 2020/7/20
N2 - Phantom limb pain (PLP) is pain felt in the missing limb in amputees. Somatosensory input delivered as high-frequency surface electrical stimulation may provoke a significant temporary decrease in PLP. Also, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) is a somatosensory input that may activate descending inhibitory systems and thereby relieve pain. Our aim was to investigate changes in cortical activity following long-time sensory TENS. Time-frequency features were extracted from EEG signals of Cz and C4 channels (contralateral to the stimulation site) with or without TENS (2 subjects). We found that the TENS caused inhibition of the spectral activity of the somatosensory cortex following TENS, whereas no change was found when no stimulation was applied.Clinical Relevance - Although our preliminary results show a depression of the cortical activity following TENS, a future study with a larger population is needed to provide strong evidence to evaluate the effectiveness of sensory TENS on cortical activity. Our results may be useful for the design of TENS protocols for relief of PLP.
AB - Phantom limb pain (PLP) is pain felt in the missing limb in amputees. Somatosensory input delivered as high-frequency surface electrical stimulation may provoke a significant temporary decrease in PLP. Also, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) is a somatosensory input that may activate descending inhibitory systems and thereby relieve pain. Our aim was to investigate changes in cortical activity following long-time sensory TENS. Time-frequency features were extracted from EEG signals of Cz and C4 channels (contralateral to the stimulation site) with or without TENS (2 subjects). We found that the TENS caused inhibition of the spectral activity of the somatosensory cortex following TENS, whereas no change was found when no stimulation was applied.Clinical Relevance - Although our preliminary results show a depression of the cortical activity following TENS, a future study with a larger population is needed to provide strong evidence to evaluate the effectiveness of sensory TENS on cortical activity. Our results may be useful for the design of TENS protocols for relief of PLP.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85090997800&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/embc44109.2020.9176023
DO - 10.1109/embc44109.2020.9176023
M3 - Article in proceeding
SN - 9781728119908
T3 - I E E E Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. Conference Proceedings
SP - 3905
EP - 3908
BT - 2020 42nd Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society (EMBC)
PB - IEEE
T2 - 42nd Annual International Conferences of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, EMBC 2020
Y2 - 20 July 2020 through 24 July 2020
ER -