Study questions efficacy of spinal cord stimulation for pain
A crossover trial finds no difference in patients’ disability after stimulation compared with placebo
Spinal cord stimulation for post-surgery chronic radicular pain is no better than placebo and of “questionable benefit” outside of clinical trials, neurosurgeons say.
The Norwegian team investigated the treatment’s efficacy in 50 adult patients who underwent randomised periods of spinal cord burst stimulation and placebo stimulation, finding no significant differences in self-reported back pain disability.
