Pain medicine : the official journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine
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Review Case Reports Multicenter Study
Treatment of medically refractory cancer pain with a combination of intrathecal neuromodulation and neurosurgical ablation: case series and literature review.
Up to 90% of patients with advanced cancer experience intractable pain. For these patients, oral analgesics are the mainstay of therapy, often augmented with intrathecal drug delivery. Neurosurgical ablative procedures have become less commonly used, though their efficacy has been well-established. Unfortunately, little is known about the safety of ablation in the context of previous neuromodulation. Therefore, the aim of this study is to present the results from a case series in which patients were treated successfully with a combination of intrathecal neuromodulation and neurosurgical ablation. ⋯ In cancer patients with medically intractable pain, intrathecal neuromodulation and neurosurgical ablation together may allow for more effective control of cancer pain.