References PAlN 02491

Bourke. D.L., Smith, B.A.C., Erickson. .I., Gwartz, B. and Leonard, L.. Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) reduces

halothane requirements during hand surgery, Anesthesiology. 61

(19X4) 769-772.

Marchand. S.. Charest, J.. Jinxue, L., Chenard, J.. Lavignolle. B. and Laurencellc. L.., Is TENS pruely a placebo effect‘? A controlled

study on chronic low hack pain. Pain. 54 (1993) 99-106.

Denis L. Bourke

Reply to D.L. Bourke

We appreciate the interest that Dr. Bourke has shown in our

article: the comparison they make with their previous study on TENS

during surgery is of interest. That in these two studies similar results

were found for completely different types of pain give\ significance

to our research.

TENS has been used extensively for chronic pain hut more

sparsely for acute pain. especially during surgery The result\ of

Bourke et al. are quite pertinent considering the possibility of a

complete double-blind study with TENS. knowing the difficulties

with awake subjects. If they pursue their use of TENS during

surgery, measuring post-operative pain should be of interest.

Neither our results nor those of Bourke et al. deny the fact that ;I

placebo effect takes place during TENS hut rather that TENS IS not

purely a placeho effect.

Serge Marchand