• Jeffrey M Tiede and Marc A Huntoon.
• Department of Anesthesiology, Division of Pain Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester Minnesota.
• Neuromodulation. 2004 Jul 1;7(3):168-75.

AbstractEver since its initial development in the late 1960s, spinal cord stimulation (SCS) has been used to treat a number of painful conditions. European practice, in contrast to that in North America, has used peripheral arterial disease (PAD) as a primary indication for SCS. First employed in patients with PAD in 1976, SCS was shown by Cook et al. to heal chronic leg ulcers. Numerous subsequent retrospective studies of SCS in PAD show improvements in multiple outcomes such as exercise tolerance, limb salvage, and pain. Previous retrospective studies are likely flawed with respect to author bias, inadequate sample size, and possible placebo effects. Further, they have not identified clinical criteria for selecting SCS therapy. Recent randomized prospective studies have questioned some of the conclusions from these preceding retrospective data. In addition to the questions related to outcomes, theories regarding exact mechanisms by which SCS improves circulatory parameters remain unclear. A thorough Medline literature review on the subject of SCS in peripheral vascular disease was thus undertaken to attempt to clarify questions regarding which patients are best suited for SCS therapy, pinpoint possible methodologic flaws in previous studies, and to review the background, outcomes, mechanisms of action, complications, and alternatives for SCS in patients with PAD.

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