2024 Volume 5 Issue 3 Pages 186-190
Chronic limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI) has a poor prognosis and significantly reduces quality of life and activities of daily living. Pain is severe and pain management remains inadequate for many patients despite medical intervention, potentially causing discontinuation of treatment. This study investigated the long-term efficacy of spinal cord stimulation (SCS) as a treatment modality for pain control in CLTI. SCS involves both a trial phase, where a test stimulus is used, and implantation to assess its efficacy. Herein, we report trial phase cases. SCS was performed for pain control in 33 CLTI patients at Kasukabe Chuo General Hospital between January 2015 and August 2022. Pre- and post-SCS assessments included numeric rating scale (NRS) , Oswestry disability index 2.0 (ODI) , and pain catastrophizing scale (PCS). Wilcoxon signed-rank sum test was used for statistical analysis (significance level of p < 0.05) . We found significant reductions in NRS (mean decrease of 5, n=61) , ODI (mean decrease of 12 points, n=14), and PCS (mean decrease of 13 points, n=8). Our findings suggest that SCS is an effective pain management strategy for CLTI.
