Retrospective evaluation of patients with cervical spinal cord stimulator.

Objectives: Chronic pain is a cause that negatively affects quality of life and functional capacity. Spinal cord stimulation is used for various painful indications such as failed back surgery syndrome, complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), and peripheral vascular disease (PVD). Our aim is to retrospectively investigate the effectiveness of cervical spinal cord stimulator therapy in nine patients.

Methods: Nine patients with chronic pain in the upper extremity who did not benefit from medical (pharmacological, physical therapy, etc.) and algological interventional procedures (such as nerve blocks) were included in the study. Cervical spinal cord stimulator was applied to these patients in our pain clinic between January 1, 2016, and January 1, 2019. The pain levels and analgesic and antiepileptic drug doses of the patients before and after the procedure were analyzed.

Results: The mean age of patients was 51.8±14.6% (29-76), 44.4% (4) were female and 55.6% (5) were male. Indications for cervical spinal cord stimulator insertion were CRPS type 1 (five patients), CRPS type 2 (two patients), previous neck surgery (one patient), and pain syndrome due to PVD (one patient). After the procedure, we saw a statistical decrease in the pain levels and drug doses of the study patients. SPSS 22.0 statistics package program was used to evaluate the data. NPar and Friedman tests were used for comparisons. Continuous variables are given as mean±standard deviation. p<0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Conclusion: Cervical spinal cord stimulator is an effective method in the treatment of neck and upper extremity chronic pain.