Van Buyten J P, Van Zundert J, Vueghs P, Vanduffel L
Department of Anaesthesia, AZ Maria Middelares, Hospitalstraat 17, B-9100 St. Niklaas, Belgium.
Eur J Pain. 2001;5(3):299-307. doi: 10.1053/eujp.2001.0249.
Spinal cord stimulation is a minimally invasive mode of treatment in the management of certain forms of chronic pain that do not respond to conventional pain therapy. Several authors have reported encouraging findings with this technique. Over a 10-year period in a single centre, 254 patients were subjected to a trial period of spinal cord stimulation with an externalized pulse generator. Two hundred and seventeen of the patients showed satisfactory results justifying permanent implantation of a spinal cord stimulation system. In 1998, an independent physician invited 153 patients (155 pain cases), who still had the system in place and who could be contacted, for an interview. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of an implanted spinal cord stimulation system in terms of pain relief and quality of life and to assess the accuracy of the patient selection criteria. The results of this study demonstrate a high success rate as evaluated by the patients' own assessments--68% of the patients rated the result of the treatment as excellent to good after an average follow-up of almost 4 years. The resumption of work by 31% of patients who had been working before the onset of pain supports these positive findings.
脊髓刺激是一种微创治疗方式，用于管理某些对传统疼痛疗法无反应的慢性疼痛。几位作者报告了这项技术令人鼓舞的结果。在一个单一中心的10年期间，254名患者接受了外置脉冲发生器的脊髓刺激试验期。其中217名患者显示出令人满意的结果，证明有必要永久植入脊髓刺激系统。1998年，一位独立医生邀请了153名仍保留该系统且能够联系到的患者（155例疼痛病例）进行访谈。本研究的目的是评估植入式脊髓刺激系统在缓解疼痛和改善生活质量方面的疗效，并评估患者选择标准的准确性。这项研究的结果表明，根据患者自身评估，成功率很高——在平均近4年的随访后，68%的患者将治疗结果评为优秀或良好。疼痛发作前就已工作的患者中有31%恢复工作，这支持了这些积极的发现。
