Articles: back-pain.
-
Reg Anesth Pain Med · Jun 2023
ReviewRole of patient selection and trial stimulation for spinal cord stimulation therapy for chronic non-cancer pain: a comprehensive narrative review.
Patient selection for spinal cord stimulation (SCS) therapy is crucial and is traditionally performed with clinical selection followed by a screening trial. The factors influencing patient selection and the importance of trialing have not been systematically evaluated. ⋯ Due to lack of a consistent approach to identify responders for SCS therapy, trialing complements patient selection to exclude patients who do not find the therapy helpful and/or intolerant of the SCS system. However, more rigorous and large studies are necessary to better evaluate its role.
-
Physiological or pathology-mediated changes in neuronal activity trigger structural plasticity of the action potential generation site-the axon initial segment (AIS). These changes affect intrinsic neuronal excitability, thus tuning neuronal and overall network output. Using behavioral, immunohistochemical, electrophysiological, and computational approaches, we characterized inflammation-related AIS plasticity in rat's superficial (lamina II) spinal cord dorsal horn (SDH) neurons and established how AIS plasticity regulates the activity of SDH neurons, thus contributing to pain hypersensitivity. ⋯ We show that AIS shift back close to the soma, and SDH inhibitory neurons' excitability increases to baseline levels following recovery from inflammatory hyperalgesia. The computational model of SDH inhibitory neurons predicts that the distal shift of AIS is sufficient to decrease the intrinsic excitability of these neurons. Our results provide evidence of inflammatory pain-mediated AIS plasticity in the central nervous system, which differentially affects the excitability of inhibitory SDH neurons and contributes to inflammatory hyperalgesia.
-
Second opinion (SO) on spine surgery was recently implemented as a statutory right in Germany. Prior to this, one health insurer did offer SO to its policy holders including advice on additional conservative treatment options. ⋯ Most patients undergoing spine surgery make their decision based on the information that they are provided without requesting a SO. As in comparative studies, most patients with a confirmed surgical indication underwent surgery, while some did not. Some patients underwent surgery inspite of recommendations against-after considering conservative therapy recommendations by the IMA. In retrospect, sound advice and an intensive conservative therapy offer seem necessary and reasonable.
-
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.