Neuromodulation in Patients With Neuropathic Pain and Depression.

Patients are asked how much pain relief they have experienced since the last session.

Neuropathic dimension: overall score of the Neuropathic Pain Symptoms Inventory (NPSI) questionnaire and its dominant sub-score. The dominant being defined as the score of the dimension (e.g. allodynia, burning, dysesthesia) most painful at the inclusion visit (S0).This questionnaire is used to assess the presence and evolution of neuropathic pain symptoms, as well as the effectiveness of specific neuropathic pain treatments. Based on questioning, it comprises 12 questions (10 descriptive of symptoms and and 2 to assess pain frequency and duration).

Score is from 0 ((no pain) to 120 (maximun pain)

Pain evolution via multiple Visual Analogue Scale (components: intensity, unpleasantness, impact on on attention). (Minimum Value : 0 means "no pain" - Maximum value : 10 means "the most intense pain imaginable").

Progression of depression (thymia), assessed by subjective percentage improvement in mood by the MADRS. Montgomery Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) consists of 10 items to be completed during a clinical interview. Each item has a severity scale from 0 to 6, with higher scores reflecting more severe symptoms. Scores can be added together to give an overall score (from 0 to 60).

Progression of depression (thymia), assessed by subjective percentage improvement in mood by the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). It provides a quantitative estimate of depression intensity. Each item consists of 4 sentences corresponding to 4 degrees of increasing intensity on a scale from 0 to 3. The overall score for the depressive syndrome (from 0 to 39) is obtained by adding up the scores for the 13 items.

Comparison of changes in mean pain intensity between the two treatment arms by using Visual Analogue Scale (components: intensity, unpleasantness, impact on on attention). (Minimum Value : 0 means "no pain" - Maximum value : 10 means "the most intense pain imaginable").

Evolution of catastrophism via the Pain Catastrophizing Scale. People are asked to indicate the degree to which they have the above thoughts and feelings when they are experiencing pain using the 0 (not at all) to 4 (all the time) scale. A total score is yielded (ranging from 0-52), along with three subscale scores assessing rumination, magnification and helplessness.

Evolution of affective and sensory components of pain via the Pain Questionnaire Saint-Antoine (QDSA). This questionnaire contains 58 words divided into 16 categories offering dimensions that to describe the painful experience

Change in perceived quality of life using the EuroQol-5D (EQ5-D). The answers given to ED-5D permit to find 243 unique health states or can be converted into EQ-5D index an utility scores anchored at 0 for death and 1 for perfect health. The EQ-5D questionnaire also includes a Visual Analog Scale (VAS), by which respondents can report their perceived health status with a grade ranging from 0 (the worst possible health status) to 100 (the best possible health status).

Potential adverse events reporting during the study