Biofeedback Therapy research studies for chronic conditions

OBJECTIVE:
To evaluate the benefits of biofeedback therapy in children with functional constipation caused by pelvic floor dysfunction (PFD). METHOD: Anorectal manometry (PC Polygraf HR, Medtronic) was performed in children with functional constipation according to the diagnostic criteria of Rome III. Among them, 47 cases with PFD were trained with biofeedback therapy (PC Polygraf HR, Medtronic) according to the degree of cooperation. They received the treatment twice every week, and those in whom the therapy was performed at least three times were enrolled to evaluate the efficacy in this study.
Result:
A total of 27 cases (20 male and 7 female) in whom the procedure was performed at least three times were eligible for inclusion into this study. The mean age of them was (6.7 +/- 2.2) years (range 4 to 12 years), and the mean duration of symptoms was (3.0 +/- 2.3) years with a range of 6 months to 8 years. Among them, 16 cases received the biofeedback training more than 5 times, while 8 cases more than 7 times. The rectal maximum contraction pressure during defecation was increased significantly with the number of biofeedback training before treatment and after 3, 5, and 7 times of treatment was (36.2 +/- 10.4), (45.1 +/- 9.5), (47.6 +/- 9.1), and (47.8 +/- 8.8) mm Hg (1 mm Hg = 0.133 kPa) respectively (P<0.01). The potential of electromyography of external anal sphincter decreased progressively, but had not reached significance. Follow-up continued for 3 to 12 months by telephone, the clinical response to biofeedback treatment was evaluated as excellent (complete resolution of constipation), good (improvement of constipation), partial or poor (no improvement of constipation). The response was excellent in 13 cases (48.1%), good in 8 (29.6%), partial in 3 (11.1%), and 2 (7.5%) cases had no improvement, and 1 case was lost to follow-up, and the rate of success was 88.9% (24/27).
Conclusion:
Biofeedback therapy is a safe and effective treatment option for functional constipation due to PFD in children probably by increasing the rectal maximum contraction pressure during defecation.

Background:
: Bowel symptoms are common in patients with multiple sclerosis, but current treatment is empirical. OBJECTIVE:
: This study aimed to identify effect of biofeedback on bowel symptoms, mood, and anorectal physiology in patients with multiple sclerosis. DESIGN: : This was a prospective observational study: the amount of change between pre- and posttreatment values of outcome measures was compared and analyzed. Responders were considered to be patients who demonstrated an improvement greater than or equal to the 25th percentile of the change in bowel score. Comparison between responders and nonresponders was performed. SETTINGS: : This investigation was conducted at a neurogastroenterology clinic, tertiary referrals center. PATIENTS: : Thirty-nine patients with multiple sclerosis and constipation and/or fecal incontinence were included in the study. INTERVENTION: : Patients were given bowel biofeedback therapy. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: : The primary outcome measures were the Wexner Constipation and Wexner Incontinence scores. The secondary outcome measures were hospital anxiety and depression scores and anorectal physiology parameters.
Results:
: Data are reported as median and interquartile ranges. After biofeedback there was significant improvement in Wexner Constipation (12 (5-19) pretreatment vs 8 (4-14) posttreatment, P = .001), Wexner Incontinence (12 (3-15) pretreatment vs 4 (2-10) posttreatment, P

Biofeedback is an important therapeutic option in patients with outlet dysfunction. A total of 75 patients referred to our proctological division from March 2004 to June 2008 and complaining of chronic constipation were studied by history, physical examination, anorectal functional tests and a structured questionnaire. Patients were treated with biofeedback plus electrical stimulation or both biofeedback plus electrical stimulation and surgery. Sixty of the 75 patients were treated with biofeedback only; and 15 with both treatments. All patients underwent, on average, twice weekly 15-minute EMG-biofeedback training sessions followed by 5 minutes of electrical stimulation. At 6 months’ follow-up all physiological parameters with the exception of anal squeeze pressure showed a significant improvement (p

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by deficits in communication, social interaction, and a limited range of interests with repetitive stereotypical behavior. Various abnormalities have been documented in the brains of individuals with autism, both anatomically and functionally. The connectivity theory of autism is a recently developed theory of the neurobiological cause of autisic symptoms. Different patterns of hyper- and hypo-connectivity have been identified with the use of quantitative electroencephalogray (QEEG), which may be amenable to neurofeedback. In this study, we compared the results of two published controlled studies examining the efficacy of neurofeedback in the treatment of autism. Specifically, we examined whether a symptom based approach or an assessment/connectivity guided based approach was more effective. Although both methods demonstrated significant improvement in symptoms of autism, connectivity guided neurofeedback demonstrated greater reduction on various subscales of the Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC). Furthermore, when individuals were matched for severity of symptoms, the amount of change per session was significantly higher in the Coben and Padolsky (J Neurother 11:5-23, 2007) study for all five measures of the ATEC. Our findings suggest that an approach guided by QEEG based connectivity assessment may be more efficacious in the treatment of autism. This permits the targeting and amelioration of abnormal connectivity patterns in the brains of people who are autistic.

Biofeedback with or without combined autogenic training is known to be effective for the treatment of migraine. This study aimed to examine the effect of biofeedback treatment on headache activity, anxiety, and depression in Korean female patients with migraine headache. Patients were randomized into the treatment group (n=17) and monitoring group (n=15). Mood states including anxiety and depression, and psychophysiological variables such as mean skin temperature of the patients were compared with those of the normal controls (n=21). We found greater treatment response rate (defined as>or =50% reduction in headache index) in patients with biofeedback-assisted autogenic training than in monitoring group. The scores on the anxiety and depression scales in the patients receiving biofeedback-assisted autogenic training decreased after the biofeedback treatment. Moreover, the decrease in their anxiety levels was significantly related to the treatment outcome. This result suggests that the biofeedback-assisted autogenic training is effective for the treatment of migraine and its therapeutic effect is closely related to the improvement of the anxiety level.

In original research are compared results of treatment of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) by standard technique and treatment with to additional application of the control of a biofeedback. The analysis was carried out on dynamics of clinical symptoms in 1 and 6 months after course of treatment. Research showed improvement of results of treatment IBS in the group with additional treatment of a biofeedback.