Regional anesthesia and pain medicine
-
Reg Anesth Pain Med · Jun 2023
Review Meta AnalysisPhysical functioning following spinal cord stimulation: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) has emerged as an important treatment for chronic pain disorders. While there is evidence supporting improvement in pain intensity with SCS therapy, efforts to synthesize the evidence on physical functioning are lacking. ⋯ This meta-analysis highlights significant improvements in physical function after SCS therapy. However, this finding was limited by a very low GRADE certainty of evidence and high heterogeneity.
-
Peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS), a type of neuromodulatory technique, is increasingly used to treat chronic pain syndromes. PNS has also recently gained popularity as a viable adjunct analgesic modality in acute pain settings, where the practice primarily relies on using boluses or infusion of local anesthetics for nerve blockade, followed by stimulation to extend the analgesia. There is some early promise in PNS for perioperative analgesic control, but considerable obstacles must be addressed before it can be implemented into standard practice. In this daring discourse, we explore the possibilities and constraints of using the PNS paradigm in acute pain.
-
Reg Anesth Pain Med · Jun 2023
ReviewPerioperative and anesthetic considerations for the management of neuromodulation systems.
The use of neuromodulation systems is increasing for the treatment of various pathologies ranging from movement disorders to urinary incontinence to chronic pain syndromes. While the type of neuromodulation devices varies, they are largely categorized as intracranial (eg, deep brain stimulation), neuraxial (eg, spinal cord stimulation, dorsal root ganglion stimulation, and intrathecal drug delivery systems), or peripheral (eg, sacral nerve stimulation and peripheral nerve stimulation) systems. Given the increasing prevalence of these systems in the overall population, it is important for anesthesiologists, surgeons, and the perioperative healthcare team to familiarize themselves with these systems and their unique perioperative considerations. In this review, we explore and highlight the various neuromodulation systems, their general perioperative considerations, and notable special circumstances for perioperative management.