Pain physician
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To report about the safe use of a spinal cord stimulator (SCS) and a permanent cardiac pacemaker (PPM). ⋯ The simultaneous use of bipolar SCS in a patient with a PPM is not contraindicated. However, because false inhibition of a cardiac pacemaker may potentially lead to serious events, individual testing is mandatory to ascertain safety in each patient.
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Opioids are used extensively for chronic pain management in the United States. The frequency of opioid use prior to presenting to interventional pain management settings and in interventional pain management settings has been shown to be above 90%. Opioid abuse has been demonstrated in 9% to 41% of patients receiving chronic pain management. Illicit drug use has been reported in 14% to 34% of patients in chronic pain management settings. ⋯ Opioid abuse and illicit drug use were common in chronic pain patients with a prevalence of 9% and 16%, respectively. Age, pain after motor vehicle accident, involvement of multiple regions and past history of illicit drug use were identified as risk factors.
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Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS) has become an accepted therapeutic modality for the treatment of intractable pain syndromes, primarily used today in the settings of failed back surgery syndrome, neuropathic back and limb pain. The use of spinal cord stimulators for peripheral nerve field electrostimulation is becoming increasingly recognized as a safe, effective alternative for chronic pain conditions that are refractory to medical management and do not respond to traditional dorsal column stimulation. Advances in technology have allowed for minimally invasive percutaneous placement of multipolar leads with complex programmable systems to provide patient- controlled relief of pain in precisely targeted regions. ⋯ Each patient was refractory to conventional medical approaches. For all three patients, PNFS provided significant relief from pain, enabling patients to decrease or discontinue their opioid medications and to enjoy significant improvement in their quality of life. We conclude that PNFS is a safe, effective and minimally invasive treatment that may be used successfully for a wide variety of indications including chronic abdominal pain.
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Radiofrequency neurotomies are used to help reduce pain caused by structures innervated by the medial branch of the dorsal spinal nerve. The duration of effect may vary proportionally to the length of nerve coagulated. Techniques used to maximize the length of nerve within the radius of maximal heat include making multiple lesions, using larger needles, positioning the exposed needle parallel to the target nerve, and attempting more precise placement using 50 hertz test stimulation. A variation of the technique uses two needles that are simultaneously placed to lie parallel to one another and parallel to the probable area the target nerve is known to traverse. Heating both needles at the same time would be a faster method that theoretically might also include more tissue within the heating radius of the needle lengths. ⋯ This research confirms the efficacy of utilizing two needle electrodes during lumbar facet rhizotomy in an experimental model. Heating the two electrodes sequentially appears to coagulate a wider area and thus would be more likely to include a longer length of the target nerve and thus potentially could achieve better results in less time.