Real world experience with minimally invasive wireless percutaneous neuromodulation in a tertiary care centre

2021 ◽  
pp. 204946372110623
Author(s):  
Hemkumar Pushparaj ◽  
Rajiv Chawla ◽  
Deepti Bhargava ◽  
Shubhabrata Biswas ◽  
Manohar L Sharma

Background Wireless percutaneous nerve stimulation (PNS) for chronic pain is rapidly evolving in the ever expanding neuromodulation paradigm. Safety and lower risks with a potential of long-term analgesia cannot be over emphasised especially with the ongoing opioid pandemic. PNS with an implanted pulse generator (IPG) has also been shown to provide good benefit, without often unpleasant widespread paraesthesia from conventional spinal cord stimulators. Aim and Methods We retrospectively extracted data on all wireless PNS implants in our highly specialised pain neuromodulation centre since initiation of wireless PNS service in August 2019. Patient demographics, pain history, analgesic intake and details on implant follow-up data within 1 year post-implant including pain relief, EuroQol-5 Dimension (EQ-5D) and Patients’ Global Impression of Change (PGIC) scores were extracted. The cases are presented in a narrative format. Result A total of five patients were implanted with wireless (Stimwave®) PNS from August 2019 to February 2020. Neuropathic pain was the most common presenting diagnosis. All patients showed >50% pain relief at 3 months. EQ-5D and PGIC did not show any improvement in the subjects. Two of the patients managed to decrease their analgesics after implantation. Similar sustained benefits could not be demonstrated after 1 year. Discussion PNS can provide analgesia in appropriately selected cases. Naivety of the technique and procedure might cause some degree of uncertainty. External pulse generator with wireless transmission avoids IPG and tunnelling related side effects, but requires individualised special wearable technology to power the lead. Minimally invasive nature of the technique might be attractive and preferable for patients with complex medical issues, nickel allergy and poor general health who may otherwise be unsuitable for Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS) with conventional hardware. Robust prospective controlled studies and RCTs in future might provide further insights on utility in other neuropathic pain diagnosis, long-term outcomes and acceptability compared to conventional SCS.

Author(s):  
D. E. Moulin ◽  
D. Palma ◽  
C. Watling ◽  
V. Schulz

ABSTRACT:Objective:To evaluate the role of methadone in the management of intractable neuropathic noncancer pain.Methods:A case series of 50 consecutive noncancer pain patients who were seen at a tertiary care centre and treated with oral methadone for a variety of intractable neuropathic pain states.Results:The mean age was 52.7 years and the mean duration of follow-up was 13.9 months. Post-discectomy nerve root fibrosis, complex regional pain syndrome, peripheral neuropathy and central spinal cord pain syndromes were the most common diagnoses. Over 90% had been treated with one or more tricyclic antidepressants and anticonvulsants and a similar number had received other adjuvant analgesics. All patients had failed treatment with one or more conventional opioid analgesics (mean 2.8) at a mean maximal morphine dose of 384 mg (or equivalents) per day. Twelve patients had failed spinal cord stimulation. Nineteen patients (38%) did not tolerate initial methadone titration or thought their pain was worse on methadone. Five patients (10%) declared initial benefit but required repetitive dose escalation and eventually became non-responders. Twenty-six patients (52%) reported mild (4), moderate (15), marked (6) or complete (1) pain relief and continued on methadone at a mean maintenance dose of 159.8 mg/day for a mean duration of 21.3 months. Fourteen patients (28%) reported improved function on methadone relative to previous treatments.Conclusions:Methadone appears to have unique properties including N-methyl-D-aspartate antagonist activity that may make it especially useful in the management of intractable neuropathic pain. This observation needs to be tested in randomized, controlled trials.


Author(s):  
Sanjeev Srivastava ◽  
Pawan Goyal ◽  
Anurag Sharma ◽  
Sanjay K. Rajan ◽  
Aditya Gupta

AbstractSpinal cord stimulation is an established procedure for relieving chronic neuropathic pain conditions. Although it has been over five decades since the first spinal cord stimulation (SCS) was developed, it has only been used in a few cases in India. It is primarily based on the “Gate Theory” of pain. The mechanism of its action is not exactly clear, but reports have suggested that it plays the main role in selectively stimulating the large diameter pain fibers in the dorsal aspect of spinal cord. SCS procedure involves a very careful case selection, and current evidence suggests that only a few conditions of chronic refractory neuropathic pain are its established indications. In these patients too, the efficacy rate remains around 50 to 75%. The overall pain relief observed is around 50% decrease in visual analog scale (VAS) scores. It is a technically simple procedure involving placement of electrodes over the dorsal aspect of spinal cord in the epidural space. The procedure is a staged one in which trial lead electrodes are first implanted and stimulated with an external pulse generator (EPG). If the trial is successful and patient has acceptable pain relief over 1 week of stimulation at various settings, the patient undergoes the permanent implantation of electrodes at the same position. The permanent electrodes are then stimulated by an implantable pulse generator (IPG) in the subcutaneous pocket (abdominal or gluteal). Complications are rare and are more related to hardware like lead migration and breakage. Since it is does not damage the cord per se, its acceptance as a procedure for pain is known quite well in the Western world. Its availability and cost of implants is the major hurdle in its use in a developing nation like India. Here, we present a technical note and our experience of two cases of thoracic spinal cord stimulation for chronic neuropathic pain at our institution.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amnon A. Berger ◽  
Ivan Urits ◽  
Jamal Hasoon ◽  
Jatinder Gill ◽  
Musa Aner ◽  
...  

Background: Chronic back and neck pain affects 20% of Americans. Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) is an effective therapy for otherwise refractory chronic pain. Traditional SCS relies on low-frequency stimulus in the 40 - 60 Hz range causing robust paresthesia in regions overlapping with painful dermatomes. Objectives: This study aims to determine the effect of superimposing sub-perception stimulation in patients who previously had good long-term relief with paresthesia. Methods: This is a prospective observational trial examining patients who had previously been implanted with paresthesia based SCS for failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS) or complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). These patients presented for implantable pulse generator (IPG) replacement based on battery depletion with an IPG capable of combined sub-perception and paresthesia based SCS therapy. Patients were assessed immediately following the exchange and four weeks later using a telephone survey. Their pain was assessed on each follow up using a Numerical Rating scale (NRS); the primary outcome was the change in NRS after four weeks from the exchange day. Secondary outcomes included paresthesia changes, which included the subjective quality of sensation generated, the overall subjective coverage of the painful region, subjective variation of coverage with positional changes, and global perception of the percentage improvement in pain. Results: Based on our clinic registry, 30 patients were eligible for IPG exchange, 16 were consented for follow up and underwent an exchange, and 15 were available for follow up four weeks following. The average NRS decreased from 7.47 with traditional SCS to 4.5 with combination therapy. 80% of patients reported an improvement in the quality of paresthesia over traditional SCS therapy, and in most patients, this translated to significantly improved pain control. Conclusions: Our findings suggest improved pain relief in patients who had previously had good results with paresthesia based therapy and subsequently underwent IPG exchange to a device capable of delivering combined sub-perception stimulation. The mechanism of action is unclear though there may be an additive and/or synergistic effect of the two waveforms delivered. Larger studies with long-term follow-up are needed to elucidate the durability of pain relief and the precise mechanism by which combined subperception and paresthesia based SCS may improve overall patient outcomes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anupma Kaul ◽  
Manas Behera

Abstract Background and Aims Living kidney donation is a very complex psychological experience for donor candidates as well as the recipients improving self-esteem and donor-recipient relationships on one hand while may add on to emotional stresses increasing psychic vulnerability and predisposition to the development of mental disorder. The present study aimed to look into psychosocial outcome among donor characteristics and quantification of the psychological impact of kidney donation. Method This was a retrospective random study conducted among 506 renal transplant donors from 2010 till 2018 at Department of nephrology and transplantation at a tertiary care centre in northern part of India. Results Majority of donors were females ie mothers (38.1%) and wife (35.5%). A total of 18.6% developed one or more co morbid illness following transplantation. Most of the donors (98.9%) were motivated by affection and love for the recipient and out of them (89.1%) felt that there were the first choice among the available donors. A majority of them (94.5%) felt that donation had positively affected their relationship and were respected. These donors showed lesser degree of both depressive and anxiety (HAD score 3.5) and depressive score (BDI II 4.8). Donation had upgraded the stature of the donor in the family and recipient which proved statically significant predictor on donor related outcome. Donors well being was dependant on recepients wellbeing and 20% of the donors felt or were made to feel the guilt of the graft failure or a poor outcome. Conclusion The study showed a positive acknowledgement for the donors from the recipients and society thus giving a meaning to life Need of the hours is greater post donation monitoring as well as due recognition among donors which can improve long term donor outcomes.


Author(s):  
Rahul Singh ◽  
Ravi Shankar Prasad ◽  
Ashvamedh Singh ◽  
Kulwant Singh ◽  
Anurag Sahu

Abstract Objective To evaluate traumatic spondyloptosis cases for neurological, surgical, and outcome perspectives. Materials and Methods This retrospective study includes 17 patients of spondyloptosis admitted in our department between August 2016 and January 2020. Each patient was evaluated in terms of demographic profile, clinical presentation, duration of injury, mode of injury, associated injuries, level and type of spondyloptosis, spinal cord status, nociceptive and neuropathic pain severity, severity of injury based on International Standards for Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury (ISNCSI) assessment, surgical approaches, complications, and outcome. Unpaired t- test and Chi-square test were used for statistical analysis. Values with p < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results Fall from height (58.8%) was the most common mode of injury. Most common level of spondyloptosis was T12–L1 (41.1%). Sagittal–plane spondyloptosis (76.5%) were more common than coronal–plane spondyloptosis (23.5%). Most common associated injury was musculoskeletal (64.7%). Neurological status of the patient at presentation (p = 0.0007) was significantly associated with outcome after 3 months of surgery/conservative management. Residual listhesis was present in 53.3% of patients postoperatively. Postoperative nociceptive pain (p = 0.0171) and neuropathic pain (0.0329) were significantly associated with residual listhesis. Duration of injury (p = 0.0228) was also significantly associated with postoperative residual listhesis. Conclusion Complete reduction of spondyloptosis should be the goal of surgery. Overall prognosis of spinal cord injury (SCI) due to traumatic spondyloptosis is poor.


Neurosurgery ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 481-496 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krishna Kumar ◽  
Gary Hunter ◽  
Denny Demeria

Abstract OBJECTIVE: To present an in-depth analysis of clinical predictors of outcome including age, sex, etiology of pain, type of electrodes used, duration of pain, duration of treatment, development of tolerance, employment status, activities of daily living, psychological status, and quality of life. Suggestions for treatment of low back pain with a predominant axial component are addressed. We analyzed the complications and proposed remedial measures to improve the effectiveness of this modality. METHODS: Study group consists of 410 patients (252 men, 58 women) with a mean age of 54 years and a mean follow-up period of 97.6 months. All patients were gated through a multidisciplinary pain clinic. The study was conducted over 22 years. RESULTS: The early success rate was 80% (328 patients), whereas the long-term success rate of internalized patients was 74.1% (243 patients) after the mean follow-up period of 97.6 months. Hardware-related complications included displaced or fractured electrodes, infection, and hardware malfunction. Etiologies demonstrating efficacy included failed back syndrome, peripheral vascular disease, angina pain, complex regional pain syndrome I and II, peripheral neuropathy, lower limb pain caused by multiple sclerosis. Age, sex, laterality of pain or number of surgeries before implant did not play a role in predicting outcome. The percentage of pain relief was inversely related to the time interval between pain onset and time of implantation. Radicular pain with axial component responded better to dual Pisces electrode or Specify-Lead implantation. CONCLUSION: Spinal cord stimulation can provide significant long-term pain relief with improved quality of life and employment. Results of this study will be effective in better defining prognostic factors and reducing complications leading to higher success rates with spinal cord stimulation.


Author(s):  
M. Suneetha ◽  
A. Saritha

Background: Today, the availability of regional anaesthesia for labour is considered a reflection of standard obstetric care. This study is to be conducted in a tertiary care centre with all facilities available for proposed end of proving that epidural analgesia is a safe and effective method for both parturient and the foetus in abolishing pain during labour.Methods: A total of 60 parturients were studied. they were randomly divided into two groups Group 1 includes 30 parturients. In this group parturient received epidural analgesia. The loading dose consisted of 10 ml of Bupivacaine 0.1% and Fentanyl 0.0002% (20 mcg). The top up doses were 10 ml of 0.1% Bupivacaine and Fentanyl 0.0002%, administered whenever the parturient complained of pain. When parturients enters into second stage a further 12-15 ml was injected with parturient in sitting position or semi-sitting position. Group 2 - (control group) Includes 30 parturients. In this group parturient was monitored without any analgesia.Results: This prospective study was done to assess the effect of epidural analgesia on the progress of labour and its outcome, to evaluate its efficacy as an analgesic technique and to study the maternal and fetal outcome. The total number of 60 parturients were selected and randomly categorized into two groups. CASE-Those who received epidural analgesia, CONTROL-Those who did not receive any analgesia.Conclusions: Epidural analgesia provides a versatile method of administering effective and satisfactory pain relief to parturient women. The technique should not be considered as a single entity, because the type and the dose of epidural medication can be altered as needed.


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