Creating a Strain Relief Loop during S1 Transforaminal Lead Placement for Dorsal Root Ganglion Stimulation for Foot Pain: A Technical Note

Publication Date

2018

Journal Title

Pain Pract

Abstract

© 2017 World Institute of Pain Chronic neuropathic pain is often refractory to conventional medical treatments and leads to significant disability and socio-economic burden. Dorsal root ganglion (DRG) stimulation has recently emerged as a treatment for persistent neuropathic pain, but creating a strain relief loop at the S1 level has thus far been a challenging technical component of DRG lead placement. We describe a refined technique for strain relief loop formation at the S1 level using a transforaminal approach that we employed in a 45-year-old patient with intractable foot pain. We successfully placed a strain relief loop in the sacral space in a predictable and easily reproducible manner using a transforaminal anchorless approach. The patient experienced a decrease in visual analog pain score (85%), and improvement in function during the trial period, and proceeded with permanent implantation. The described sacral transforaminal strain relief loop formation technique appears to be a more reliable and predictable technique of DRG lead placement in the sacrum than those previously documented.

Volume Number

18

Issue Number

4

Pages

539 - 543

Document Type

Article

Status

Faculty

Facility

School of Medicine

Primary Department

Anesthesiology

PMID

28862789

DOI

10.1111/papr.12638

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