Pain physician
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We are presenting a paper on the effectiveness of spinal cord stimulation (SCS) in 2 patients suffering pain from brachial plexus injury (BPI). After a traumatic brachial plexus lesion about 80% of patients develop pain in the deafferentated arm. This pain is considered very resistant to many forms of therapy. ⋯ Many injuries are due to motorcycle accidents, so that patients are often young and require long-term pain relief. During the SCS trial the pain relief was more than 50% with an absolute improvement in the quality of life and significant drug reduction. The results of the SCS were excellent in these 2 patients, defined as more than 50% pain relief at 6 and 18 months.
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A recent study has indicated that quality assurance for interventional pain management procedures (IPMPs) can be achieved in university pain clinics. However, the issue of quality assurance for IPMPs in private practice has not yet been addressed. ⋯ The results of the current study suggest that high quality private interventional pain programs with high efficacy, high patient satisfaction, and low complication rates can be achieved through appropriate staff training, proper monitoring of patients during IPMPs, and adequate handling of patients after the IPMPs.