Chronic pain treatment

• Idiopathic intracranial hypertension associated with polycystic ovarian syndrome, sensorineural hearing loss, and elevated inflammatory markers that lead to bilateral blindness: A case report with literature review
• Research Trends of Acupuncture Therapy on Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome from 2000 to 2022: A Bibliometric Analysis
• Patient profiling and outcome assessment in spinal cord stimulation for chronic back and/or leg pain (the PROSTIM study): a study protocol
• Enhancing post-operative analgesia following spinal cord stimulation implant: a comprehensive evaluation of the effectiveness of erector spinae plane block utilizing liposomal bupivacaine
• Inhibition of Neurogenic Inflammatory Pathways Associated with the Reduction in Discogenic Back Pain
• Comparative Randomized Study between Pulsed Radiofrequency and Suprascapular Nerve Block for the Treatment of Chronic Shoulder Pain
• Physical Activity, Depression and Quality of Life in COPD - Results from the CLARA II Study
• Improvement in chronic pelvic pain, orthostatic intolerance and interstitial cystitis symptoms after treatment of pelvic vein insufficiency

see Opioids

Patients with chronic pain and comorbid obesity achieved sustained Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) improvements from Interdisciplinary Multimodal Pain Rehabilitation (IMMPR). This finding suggests that rehabilitation professionals should consider using IMMPR for patients with comorbid obesity even though their improvement may not reach the same level as for non-obese patients ¹⁾.

Chronic pain syndromes caused by degenerative and post-infectious changes in the cervical spine continue to pose significant management challenges to neurosurgeons and pain practitioners. The identification of an individualized treatment plan, astute surgical technique, comprehensive and multimodal analgesia and adequate rehabilitation processes do not necessarily result in diminished pain.

Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) is an established therapy for refractory neuropathic pain. To ascertain the balance between treatment benefits and risks, the French National Authority for Health requested a post-market registry for real-world evaluation of the long-term effectiveness and safety of the therapy.

402 patients undergoing implantation with a Medtronic SCS device as either a primo-implant (n=264) or replacement implant (n=138) were enrolled across 28 representative sites in France. Outcome measures at 2 years included pain intensity, satisfaction with treatment, improvement of pain relief and daily life activity, willingness to undergo the treatment again and use of pain treatments. A patient was considered a responder if, compared to baseline, predominant pain reduction was ≥50%.

At the 2-year follow-up visit, predominant pain intensity for primo-implant patients had decreased from baseline (p<0.001), with responder rates of 55%, 36% and 67% for the lower limbs, back and upper limbs, respectively. Most patients acknowledged an improvement in pain relief (89%) and daily life activity (82%), were satisfied with treatment (91%) and willing to undergo the treatment again (93%). A significant decrease (p<0.01) in the proportion of patients receiving pain treatment was observed for all drug and non-drug treatments. Reported adverse events were in line with literature. Pain intensity at 2 years was comparable for patients in the replacement group, supporting the long-term stability and effectiveness of SCS.

Real world evaluation of the use of spinal cord stimulation under the recommendations of the French Health Authority shows that two years after the first implantation of an SCS device close to 60% of the patients retain a significant pain reduction and 74% show improvement in pain scores [of at least 30%] with significant decreases in drug and non-drug pain treatments ²⁾.

High-frequency spinal cord stimulation.

Deep Brain Stimulation for chronic pain.

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) and motor cortex stimulation (MCS) are established surgical modalities that have been successfully used over the last several decades for treatment of numerous chronic pain disorders.

see Virtual Reality for Chronic Pain Treatment