Application of oscillating field stimulation in the treatment of spinal cord injury: a systematic review and meta-analysis of preclinical studies.
Guanlong Wang, Luchun Xu, Jiaojiao Fan and 6 others
PMID 40247270WHAT IT FOUND
In rats with spinal cord injury, oscillating field stimulation did not improve walking scores at 2 weeks.
It improved scores at 4 and 8 weeks, and motor function test results.
Key findings
01At 2 weeks after rat spinal cord injury, oscillating field stimulation did not significantly improve BBB locomotor scores (mean difference 0.03, 95% CI -0.42 to 0.48, P = 0.89).
02At 4 weeks and 8 weeks, BBB locomotor scores were significantly higher with oscillating field stimulation (mean differences 2.87 and 3.00).
03Motor evoked potential latency was significantly lower with oscillating field stimulation (mean difference -2.09, 95% CI -2.70 to -1.47).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The review included only rat spinal cord injury studies, not human patients. The included studies had unclear risk of bias for randomization method, allocation concealment, blinded intervention, and blinded outcome assessment. Three studies did not clarify whether there was data loss. The pooled motor function results had high heterogeneity across studies. The 6-week BBB result depended on one study, because excluding Tian 2016 made the result non-significant. The motor evoked potential analysis combined studies measured at different time points, which increased heterogeneity. Histological outcomes could not be pooled because staining and measurement methods varied. Only English-language studies were included. The review excluded clinical studies.
Declared interests
The paper states that funding came from the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities. No other conflict of interest statement is provided.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that oscillating field stimulation is proven to improve human spinal cord injury. The review included only rat studies, and the included studies had unclear randomization, blinding, and allocation concealment.