Successful Spinal Cord Stimulation for Chronic Pancreatitis and Post-Laminectomy Pain

Abstract

Approximately one in five adults in the United States experiences chronic pain. Over the last 50 years, spinal cord stimulation has become increasingly recognized as a minimally invasive, efficacious treatment modality for the management of chronic pain. The authors report a case study of a 46-year-old female in the first documented spinal cord stimulation simultaneously targeting intractable neuropathic and visceral pain caused by post-laminectomy syndrome and chronic pancreatitis, respectively. This case study demonstrates near-total relief of the patient’s neuropathic low back/leg pain and visceral epigastric pain, showing evidence of potential clinical usefulness for spinal cord stimulation as a treatment option in patients who present with a combination of visceral and somatic pain symptoms.

Lay abstract

Approximately one in five adults in the United States experiences chronic pain. Over the last 50 years, a treatment for chronic pain referred to as spinal cord stimulation has become a promising alternative to back surgery and may minimize the need for strong opioid pain medications. The authors report a case study of a 46-year-old female patient who suffered from chronic pain following back surgery as well as persistent pain from chronic pancreatitis. This case study demonstrates the use of spinal cord stimulation to provide near-total relief of the patient’s low back/leg pain and pain from visceral inflammatory symptoms.

Keywords::

• chronic pain
• chronic pancreatitis
• neuromodulation
• neuropathic pain
• post-laminectomy syndrome
• somatic pain
• spinal cord stimulation
• visceral pain

Financial & competing interests disclosure

M Wilkinson currently serves as a consultant for Medtronic, a manufacturer of neurostimulatory devices. However, M Wilkinson was not a consultant at the time of the patient care discussed in the case study. M Erdek is a member of the Pain Management Editorial Board. The board was not involved in any editorial decisions related to the publication of this article, and all author details were blinded to the article’s peer reviewers as per the journal’s double-blind peer review policy. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Ethical conduct of research

The authors state that they have obtained appropriate institutional review board approval or have followed the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki for all human or animal experimental investigations. The authors also state that they have obtained verbal and written informed consent from the patient for the inclusion of her medical and treatment history within this case report.