The goal in this study is to investigate TEST (Transcranial Electric Stimulation Therapy) for chronic pain. It requires an inpatient stay on our research unit of about a month. The study is designed to address the cognitive and emotional aspects of chronic pain and other conditions that often accompany this disorder, such as major depression or drug use.

This project proposes to investigate the feasibility of TEST in subjects with chronic pain. This will be an open-label study where subjects (n=12) are administered 8-10 sessions of TEST over 4 weeks. Measurements of pain, mood, and memory will be obtained before and after the sessions. The hypothesis is that TEST will be feasible and tolerable in this population.

Inclusion Criteria:

1. adults (ages 22 to 60) who understand all procedures and have the ability to provide informed consent, with a score on the Mini-Mental Status Exam of at least 24;
2. participants experiencing chronic pain, with ongoing pain symptoms, and score on the Brief Pain Inventory of > 5 on question #3 (which asks about maximal pain in the past 24 hours) or > 5 on question #5 (which asks about average pain in the past 24 hours);
3. a diagnosis of chronic postoperative pain, low back pain, musculoskeletal pain, fibromyalgia, visceral pain or neuropathic pain, including complex regional pain syndrome or peripheral neuropathy;
4. no significant changes in pain medications for at least one month prior to study entry.

1 month

Definition was not different from clinical trials.gov