Majithia, N., Smith, T.J., Coyne, P.J., Abdi, S., Pachman, D.R., Lachance, D., . . . O’Neill, C. (2016). Scrambler therapy for the management of chronic pain. Supportive Care in Cancer, 24, 2807–2814.

STUDY PURPOSE: To evaluate what is known about mechanisms of scramble therapy and investigate preliminary evidence regarding efficacy

TYPE OF STUDY: General review/semi-systematic review

• FINAL NUMBER STUDIES INCLUDED = 20
• TOTAL PATIENTS INCLUDED IN REVIEW = 1,200
• SAMPLE RANGE ACROSS STUDIES: 3–226 patients
• KEY SAMPLE CHARACTERISTICS: Four reports involved patients with chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy; seven studies included patients with cancer

PHASE OF CARE: Not specified or not applicable

Most reports showed positive results for pain reduction for various pain syndromes. One double-blind, randomized trial showed no difference between controls and those receiving scrambler therapy for chemotherapy-related peripheral neuropathy.

Scramble therapy may have benefit for management of chronic pain and symptoms of peripheral neuropathy; however, current evidence is limited and weak.

• Limited number of studies included
• No quality evaluation
• Mostly low quality/high risk of bias studies
• Low sample sizes

Scrambler therapy, a neuromodulator approach to pain relief, may have some benefit in the management of chronic pain and peripheral neuropathy; however, current evidence is limited, and study designs have high risk of bias. Given the promising findings with scrambler therapy, additional well-designed research is warranted.