• Francesca Graziano, Rosa Maria Gerardi, Enrico Lo Bue, Luigi Basile, Lara Brunasso, Teresa Somma, Rosario Maugeri, Giovanni Nicoletti, and Domenico G Iacopino.
• Department of Experimental Biomedicine and Clinical Neurosciences, School of Medicine, Postgraduate Residency Program in Neurological Surgery, Neurosurgical Clinic, AOUP "Paolo Giaccone", Palermo, Italy. Electronic address: francesca.graziano03@unipa.it.
• World Neurosurg. 2020 Jan 1; 133: e658-e665.

BackgroundRecurrent and chronic low back pain, caused by degenerative lumbar spondylosis, commonly affects elderly patients, even those with no previous low back surgery. These patients, like those affected by failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS), may become unresponsive to medical conservative treatment and their quality of life could be easily compromised. Moreover, general comorbidities, obesity, and other typical conditions of the elderly may make surgery under general anesthesia riskier than the natural history of the disease. These patients could be considered affected by surgical back risk syndrome (SBRS).MethodsIn this article, we report our preliminary observational prospective study on the role of spinal cord stimulation (SCS) in 3 groups of patients: the FBSS group, the SBRS group, and the "other" group. Selection criteria, treatment modality, and outcomes for each patient group are described and discussed. Moreover, a potentially useful diagnostic and therapeutic flowchart on the management options for lumbar back diseases is discussed.ResultsThe FBSS group included 25 patients, the SBRS group included 10 patients, and the other group included 3 patients. In 22/25 patients with FBSS (88% of the total), the implantation of a definitive neurostimulator was successful. In almost all patients in both the SBRS and the other groups, the implantation of a definitive neurostimulator was successful.ConclusionsIn our opinion, SCS could be considered as a valid alternative treatment not only in selected patients affected by FBSS but also in selected patients affected by SBRS, in whom back surgery under general anesthesia may be challenging and overcome the potential benefit of the surgery itself. SBRS could be considered a new disease entity to be managed through SCS.Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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