First Publicly Funded Spinal Cord Stimulation Study Results Revealed

Results from the first publicly funded randomized controlled trial of spinal cord stimulation, presented at the 12th World Congress of the International Neuromodulation Society, found that a fully powered clinical trial is feasible in refractory chronic angina pectoris, a disabling chronic pain condition. Chronic angina pectoris patients experience severe pain upon even mild exertion as a consequence of their nerve endings having become hypersensitized due to restricted blood flow. The controlled feasibility and pilot study compared management of refractory chronic angina pectoris using spinal cord stimulation (SCS) versus usual care alone. “Although the study was not formally powered to investigate within- or between-group treatment differences … compared to baseline, there were trends across a number of the outcomes, including exercise capacity and health-related quality of life, of larger improvements in the SCS compared to usual care group at three and six months,” said one of the study’s senior authors. The study’s results also concluded that SCS is a safe, symptomatic treatment for this condition that can lower consumption of nitrate medication, and decrease the need for medical consultations and hospital stays. To read more about this study, click here.