New technique may offer superior pain relief over traditional spinal cord stimulation

A medical device company has announced the results of a study that show its device is better than traditional spinal cord stimulation in terms of relieving chronic pain.

Known as Burst stimulation, the new device gives intermittent “burst” pulses designed to mimic the body’s natural nerve firing patterns so theoretically provides a more physiologically-based method for chronic pain conditions.

The SUNBURST study was designed to assess the effects of Burst stimulation, and enrolled 100 people from 20 centres across the US and split them into groups. Half received spinal cord stimulation before Burst stimulation, and the other half were given Burst stimulation before spinal cord stimulation.

After six months, an analysis of the first 85 patients to complete their 24 week visit showed:

• Burst stimulation offered better pain relief compared to those receiving traditional spinal cord stimulation;
• Nearly 70% of people preferred Burst stimulation to traditional spinal cord stimulation for the treatment of chronic pain;
• Over 90% of people reported a decrease in paraesthesia (tingling sensation) during treatment with Burst stimulation compared to traditional spinal cord stimulation. And 65% of people had no paraesthesia while using Burst stimulation.

“Many US pain physicians and their patients have long been hopeful for new options to treat chronic pain, and now the SUNBURST trial has clinically demonstrated that Burst stimulation is a meaningful therapy to support improved management of chronic pain while reducing, and in the majority of patients eliminating, paraesthesia,” highlights Dr Timothy Deer, who is involved in the work.

Chronic pain is defined as pain lasting longer than 12 weeks and affects about 1.5 billion people worldwide. Traditional spinal cord stimulation has been proven to offer meaningful chronic pain relief for many patients, but 20–30% of people do not respond to it and others experience a reduced benefit from the therapy over time.

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Image credit: Lisa Redfern