The effect of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation-assisted therapy combined with pregabalin in the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia.

OBJECTIVE

Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) therapy has become an emerging option for acute and chronic pain. This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of TENS combined with pregabalin in treating trigeminal neuralgia (TN).

METHODS

Clinical records of TN patients treated with pregabalin in the Department of Pain Management, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, from October 2022 to October 2024 were retrospectively analyzed. Patients were divided into the TENS group and the non-TENS group based on the treatment method. The pain severity, sleep quality, levels of pain-inducing factors, quality of life, and incidence of adverse reactions in the two groups were compared before and after four weeks of treatment.

RESULTS

Records of 205 patients were included in the analysis, with 104 in the TENS group and 101 in the non-TENS group. After four weeks of treatment, the visual analog scale (VAS) and The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) scores in the TENS group were significantly lower than those in the non-TENS group (all P<0.05). The levels of pain-inducing factors and improvement in quality of life in the TENS group were considerably better compared to the non-TENS group (all P<0.05). There was no significant intergroup difference in the incidence of adverse reactions (P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

In TN patients, a combination of TENS and pregabalin was associated with higher treatment efficiency without an increase in adverse reactions compared to pregabalin monotherapy.