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Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS) in Deafferentation Pain
Author(s) -
MEGLIO M.,
CIONI B.,
PREZIOSO A.,
TALAMONTI G.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
pacing and clinical electrophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.686
H-Index - 101
eISSN - 1540-8159
pISSN - 0147-8389
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-8159.1989.tb02720.x
Subject(s) - medicine , spinal cord , spinal cord stimulation , stimulation , anesthesia , spinal cord stimulator , neuroscience , physical medicine and rehabilitation , psychiatry , biology
Spinal cord stimulation is considered to be ineffective in relieving deafferentation pain. We have retrospectively analyzed the results obtained in a series of 41 patients. Sixteen suffered from pain associated with an incomplete traumatic spinaJ lesion, 15 from a posttherapeutic neuralgia, and 10 from pain due to root and/or nerve damage. At the end of the test period, 43.7% of the patients with paraplegic pain, (40% of those with peripheral deafferentation pain and 66.6% of the ones with postherapeutic neuralgia), reported satisfactory pain relief and were connected to a chronic stimulation system. At mean follow‐up (15 months), only 20% of the patients of the first two groups reported sufficient pain relief In the postherapeutic group the figure of responders was unchanged. The mean analgesia achieved was 70%. From this analysis we conclude that the results achieved in the postherapeutic pain patients, although positive in only 66% of them, are remarkably stable with time. Therefore, we recommend a percutaneous test trial of SCS in every case of postherapeutic pain resistant to medical treatment.