Spinal Cord Stimulation May Help Treat Chronic Pain

A review published on Nov. 14 in JAMA Network Open suggests that spinal cord stimulation (SCS) for treating chronic back and/or lower extremity pain leads to greater pain relief compared to conventional medical management (CMM).

Frank J. P. M. Huygen, Ph.D., M.D., from Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and his team conducted a systematic review and network meta-analysis to assess the effectiveness of spinal cord stimulation (SCS) therapies compared to conventional medical management (CMM).

Analyzing data from 13 studies involving 1,561 patients, they found that both conventional and novel SCS therapies showed superior efficacy over CMM in reducing back pain (conventional SCS: odds ratio [OR], 3.00; novel SCS: OR, 8.76), pain intensity in the back (conventional SCS: mean difference [MD], −1.17; novel SCS: MD, −2.34), pain intensity in the leg (conventional SCS: MD, −2.89; novel SCS: MD, −4.01), and the EQ-5D index score (conventional SCS: MD, 0.15; novel SCS: MD, 0.17). Conventional SCS also outperformed CMM in reducing functional disability (MD, −7.10).

“Our study offers valuable insights for clinical decision-making and evaluation by health technology agencies, based on a more representative evidence base and a broader analytical framework than previous reviews comparing SCS technologies,” the authors note.

Read the original article on: Medical X Press

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