Successful application of burst spinal cord stimulation for refractory upper limb pain: a case series.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Lee KS
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8020113 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Epidural electrical stimulation (EES) of lumbosacral sensorimotor circuits improves leg motor control in animals and humans with spinal cord injury (SCI). Upper-limb motor control involves similar circuits, located in the cervical spinal cord, suggesting that EES could also improve arm and hand movements after quadriplegia. However, the ability of cervical EES to selectively modulate specific upper-limb motor nuclei remains unclear. Here, we combined a computational model of the cervical spinal cord with experiments in macaque monkeys to explore the mechanisms of upper-limb motoneuron recruitment with EES and characterize the selectivity of cervical interfaces. We show that lateral electrodes produce a segmental recruitment of arm motoneurons mediated by the direct activation of sensory afferents, and that muscle responses to EES are modulated during movement. Intraoperative recordings suggested similar properties in humans at rest. These modelling and experimental results can be applied for the development of neurotechnologies designed for the improvement of arm and hand control in humans with quadriplegia.
| S-EPMC7815834 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Restoring somatosensory feedback to people with limb amputations is crucial to improve prosthetic control. Multiple studies have demonstrated that peripheral nerve stimulation and targeted reinnervation can provide somatotopically relevant sensory feedback. While effective, the surgical procedures required for these techniques remain a major barrier to translatability. Here, we demonstrate in four people with upper-limb amputation that epidural spinal cord stimulation (SCS), a common clinical technique to treat pain, evoked somatosensory percepts that were perceived as emanating from the missing arm and hand. Over up to 29 days, stimulation evoked sensory percepts in consistent locations in the missing hand regardless of time since amputation or level of amputation. Evoked sensations were occasionally described as naturalistic (e.g. touch or pressure), but were often paresthesias. Increasing stimulus amplitude increased the perceived intensity linearly, without increasing area of the sensations. These results demonstrate the potential of SCS as a tool to restore somatosensation after amputations.
| S-EPMC7373432 | biostudies-literature
Project description:IntroductionIntermittent dosing (ID), in which periods of stimulation-on are alternated with periods of stimulation-off, is generally employed using 30 sec ON and 90 sec OFF intervals with burst spinal cord stimulation (SCS). The goal of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of using extended stimulation-off periods in patients with chronic intractable pain.Materials and methodsThis prospective, multicenter, feasibility trial evaluated the clinical efficacy of the following ID stimulation-off times: 90, 120, 150, and 360 sec with burst waveform parameters. After a successful trial (≥50% pain relief) using ID stimulation, subjects were titrated with OFF times beginning with 360 sec. Pain, quality of life, disability, and pain catastrophizing were evaluated at one, three, and six months after permanent implant.ResultsFifty subjects completed an SCS trial using ID stimulation settings of 30 sec ON and 90 sec OFF, with 38 (76%) receiving ≥50% pain relief. Pain scores were significantly reduced from baseline at all time points (p < 0.001). Improvements in quality of life, disability, and pain catastrophizing were aligned with pain relief outcomes; 45.8% of the subjects that completed the six-month follow-up visit used an OFF period of 360 seconds.ConclusionsID burst SCS effectively relieved pain for six months. The largest group of subjects used IDB settings of 30 sec ON and 360 sec OFF. These findings present intriguing implications for the optimal "dose" of electricity in SCS and may offer many advantages such as optimizing the therapeutic window, extending battery life, reducing recharge burden and, potentially, mitigating therapy habituation or tolerance.
| S-EPMC8247280 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Spinal cord stimulators have commonly been used to treat multiple pain conditions. This case report represents a unique case of using multiple spinal cord stimulators for widespread small fiber neuropathy pain. This case report concerns patient JJ who first presented with generalized neuropathic pain. His pain was an intermittent burning, stinging quality that originally focused in both of his feet and progressed to include his legs and arms and eventually involved his entire body. The pain would last moments to hours at least daily. He reported a poor quality of life. He was diagnosed with small fiber neuropathy with anhydrosis, suggestive of idiopathic erythromelalgia. He had a spinal cord stimulator trial involving both cervical and lower thoracic percutaneous leads. After two spinal cord stimulators were implanted, the patient began to report an improvement in pain. The patient continues to report excellent pain relief. The patient uses the stimulator intermittently as needed, in an abortive fashion for pain flares. The patient is very pleased and has increased his activity. He now attends graduate school full time. This case report hopes to illustrate a unique use of multiple spinal cord stimulators in treating widespread neuropathic pain caused by small fiber neuropathy.
| S-EPMC5534283 | biostudies-other
Project description:Chronic severe pain results in a detrimental effect on the patient's quality of life. Such patients have to take a large number of medications, including opioids, often without satisfactory effect, sometimes leading to medication abuse and the pain worsening. Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) is one of the most effective technologies that, unlike other interventional pain treatment methods, achieves long-term results in patients suffering from chronic neuropathic pain. The first described mode of SCS was a conventional tonic stimulation, but now the novel modalities (high-frequency and burst), techniques (dorsal root ganglia stimulations), and technical development (wireless and implantable pulse generator-free systems) of SCS are becoming more popular. The improvement of SCS systems, their miniaturization, and the appearance of new mechanisms for anchoring electrodes results in a significant reduction in the rate of complications and revision surgeries, and the appearance of new waves of stimulation allows not only to avoid the phenomenon of addiction, but also to improve the long-term results of chronic SCS. The purpose of this review is to describe the current condition of SCS and up-to-date technical advances.
| S-EPMC7136296 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND:Burst stimulation is a novel form of neurostimulation for the treatment of chronic pain which has demonstrated promise in small uncontrolled studies, but has not yet gained approval for use in the U.S. We report the study methods for an ongoing multicenter, randomized, controlled, cross-over study designed to gain United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for burst stimulation. METHODS:Participants who are candidates for a currently approved neurostimulation device were enrolled and screened. Participants who fail a tonic trial evaluation, have significant depressive symptoms, or evidence lack of compliance with study procedures by failing to complete 7 days of a Pain Diary are excluded. Participants receiving a permanent implant are randomized to receive: (1) 12 weeks of tonic followed by 12 weeks of burst stimulation or (2) 12 weeks of burst stimulation followed by 12 weeks of tonic stimulation. Assessments occur at 6, 12, 18, and 24 weeks. After 24 weeks, participants choose their preferred therapy and are assessed every 6 months for up to 2 years. All patients had the device leads inserted at the site of a successful tonic stimulation trial. Assessments include: a Pain Diary using a Visual Analog Scale (VAS) for overall, trunk, and limb pain, the Beck Depression Inventory, the Pain Catastrophizing Scale, the Oswestry Disability Index, paresthesia, satisfaction, and therapy preference. Reported adverse events are collected throughout the study. The primary endpoint is the noninferiority of burst stimulation compared to tonic measured by the within-subject difference in the mean overall VAS score at the end of each 12-week stimulation period. DISCUSSION:This trial represents the largest controlled trial of burst stimulation to date, and is expected to yield important information regarding the safety and efficacy of burst stimulation. TRIAL REGISTRATION:ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02011893 . Registered on 10 December 2013.
| S-EPMC5131423 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Recovering upper-limb motor function has important implications for improving independence of patients with tetraplegia after traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI).To evaluate the feasibility, safety and effectiveness of robotic-assisted training of upper limb in a chronic SCI population.A total of 10 chronic tetraplegic SCI patients (C4 to C6 level of injury, American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale, A to D) participated in a 6-week wrist-robot training protocol (1 hour/day 3 times/week). The following outcome measures were recorded at baseline and after the robotic training: a) motor performance, assessed by robot-measured kinematics, b) corticospinal excitability measured by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), and c) changes in clinical scales: motor strength (Upper extremity motor score), pain level (Visual Analog Scale) and spasticity (Modified Ashworth scale).No adverse effects were observed during or after the robotic training. Statistically significant improvements were found in motor performance kinematics: aim (pre 1.17 ± 0.11 raduans, post 1.03 ± 0.08 raduans, p = 0.03) and smoothness of movement (pre 0.26 ± 0.03, post 0.31 ± 0.02, p = 0.03). These changes were not accompanied by changes in upper-extremity muscle strength or corticospinal excitability. No changes in pain or spasticity were found.Robotic-assisted training of the upper limb over six weeks is a feasible and safe intervention that can enhance movement kinematics without negatively affecting pain or spasticity in chronic SCI. In addition, robot-assisted devices are an excellent tool to quantify motor performance (kinematics) and can be used to sensitively measure changes after a given rehabilitative intervention.
| S-EPMC4519228 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectiveBurst spinal cord stimulation (B-SCS) has been shown to reduce neuronal firing in the anterior cingulate cortex through selective modulation of the medial pain pathway tract. This pain pathway communicates the affective component of pain processing. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of B-SCS on psychosocial functioning and its influence on pain and quality of life.Materials and methodsEligible patients with chronic, intractable pain of the trunk, and/or lower limbs were enrolled. After a successful trial period, subjects received a permanent implant and returned for follow-up at 6- and 12-months.ResultsIn total, 269 patients were enrolled at 22 centers. Trial success rate was 90%. Significant improvements in pain, physical, mental, and emotional functioning were observed from baseline to the 6- and 12-month follow-up (p < 0.001). Overall, patients had improved quality of life, became more active, and the negative impact of pain on daily life was decreasing. At one year, 81% of subjects were satisfied or very satisfied with their therapy. Subjects showing significant improvements on mental health outcomes reported enhanced pain relief and quality of life scores compared with subjects with continued impaired mental health at follow-up. At one year, 89% of subjects who were taking opioids at baseline decreased or stayed at the same level of opioid use; 19% stopped taking any opioids. No unanticipated adverse events have been reported.ConclusionsOne-year outcomes after B-SCS show improvements across all evaluated psychological measures with the largest impact observed on catastrophizing and depression (the affective component of pain processing). These pain-related beliefs and behaviors, and not pain intensity, have been shown to put patients at greatest risk of a poor prognosis and quality of life.
| S-EPMC8247278 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Objective: This study aims to explore the efficacy of cerebellar intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS) on upper limb spasticity in subacute stroke patients. Methods: A total of 32 patients with upper limb spasticity were enrolled and randomly assigned to treatment with cerebellar iTBS or sham stimulation before conventional physical therapy daily for 2 weeks. The primary outcomes included the modified Ashworth scale (MAS), the modified Tardieu scale (MTS), and the shear wave velocity (SWV). The secondary outcomes were the H-maximum wave/M-maximum wave amplitude ratio (H max/M max ratio), motor-evoked potential (MEP) latency and amplitude, central motor conduction time (CMCT), and the Barthel Index (BI). All outcomes were evaluated at baseline and after 10 sessions of intervention. Results: After the intervention, both groups showed significant improvements in the MAS, MTS, SWV, and BI. In addition, patients treated with cerebellar iTBS had a significant increase in MEP amplitude, and patients treated with sham stimulation had a significant decrease in H max/M max ratio. Compared with the sham stimulation group, the MAS, MTS, and SWV decreased more in the cerebellar iTBS group. Conclusion: Cerebellar iTBS is a promising adjuvant tool to reinforce the therapeutic effect of conventional physical therapy in upper limb spasticity management after subacute stroke (Chinese Clinical Trial Registry: ChiCTR1900026516).
| S-EPMC8578104 | biostudies-literature
Project description:OBJECTIVE:To confirm the effects of combined upper limb robotic therapy (RT) as compared to conventional occupational therapy (OT) in tetraplegic spinal cord injury (SCI) patients and to suggest the optimized treatment guidelines of combined upper limb RT. METHODS:After subject recruitment and screening for eligibility, the baseline evaluation for outcome measures were performed. We evaluated the Graded and Redefined Assessment of Strength, Sensibility, and Prehension (GRASSP), the American Spinal Injury Association upper extremity motor score, grip and pinch strength, and the Spinal Cord Independence Measurement III (SCIM-III). In this study, the pre-tested participants were divided randomly into the RT and OT group. The utilized interventions included combined upper limb RT using ArmeoPower and Amadeo (RT group), or conventional OT (OT group) in addition to daily inpatient rehabilitation program. The participants underwent 40 minutes×3 sessions×5 weeks of interventions. RESULTS:A total of 30 tetraplegic SCI patients completed entire study program. After 5 weeks of intervention, both groups demonstrated increases in GRASSP-strength and SCIM-III. The manual muscle test scores of elbow flexion, elbow extension, 2-5th metacarpophalangeal extension, and SCIM-III subscores of bathing-upper, dressing-upper, and grooming as well as the GRASSP-qualitative prehension score were noted to have been significantly increased in the RT group as evaluated. The OT group showed improvements in the GRASSP-quantitative prehension score and some items in grip and pinch strength. There was no significant difference between the two groups in almost all measurements except for the SCIM-III bathing-upper subscore. CONCLUSION:Combined upper limb RT demonstrated beneficial effects on the upper limb motor function in patients with tetraplegic SCI, which were comparable with conventional OT.
| S-EPMC6734021 | biostudies-literature