• Timothy R Deer, Marc A Russo, Jay S Grider, Jason Pope, Philippe Rigoard, Jonathan M Hagedorn, Ramana Naidu, Denis G Patterson, Derron Wilson, Timothy R Lubenow, Asokumar Buvanendran, Samir J Sheth, Rany Abdallah, N Nick Knezevic, Stefan Schu, Harold Nijhuis, Pankaj Mehta, Ricardo Vallejo, Jay M Shah, Michael E Harned, Navdeep Jassal, Jose Manuel Gonzalez, Thomas P Pittelkow, Shachi Patel, Stana Bojanic, Kenneth Chapman, Natalie Strand, Alexander L Green, Peter Pahapill, Alessandro Dario, Fabian Piedimonte, and Robert M Levy.
• The Spine and Nerve Centers of the Virginias, Charleston, WV, USA. Electronic address: doctdeer@aol.com.
• Neuromodulation. 2022 Jan 1; 25 (1): 1-34.

IntroductionThe field of neurostimulation for the treatment of chronic pain is a rapidly developing area of medicine. Although neurostimulation therapies have advanced significantly as a result of technologic improvements, surgical planning, device placement, and postoperative care are of equal importance to optimize outcomes. This Neurostimulation Appropriateness Consensus Committee (NACC) project intends to provide evidence-based guidance for these often-overlooked areas of neurostimulation practice.Materials And MethodsAuthors were chosen based on their clinical expertise, familiarity with the peer-reviewed literature, research productivity, and contributions to the neuromodulation literature. Section leaders supervised literature searches of MEDLINE, BioMed Central, Current Contents Connect, Embase, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and PubMed from the last NACC publication in 2017 to the present. Identified studies were graded using the United States Preventive Services Task Force criteria for evidence and certainty of net benefit. Recommendations are based on evidence strength and consensus when evidence was scant.ResultsThis NACC project provides guidance on preoperative assessment, intraoperative techniques, and postoperative management in the form of consensus points with supportive evidence. These results are based on grade of evidence, strength of consensus, and expert opinion.ConclusionsThe NACC has given guidance for a surgical plan that encompasses the patient journey from the planning stage through the surgical experience and postoperative care. The overall recommendations are designed to improve efficacy and the safety of patients undergoing these neuromodulation procedures and are intended to apply throughout the international community.Copyright © 2021 International Neuromodulation Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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