There is a new treatment for chronic stubborn pain! Renji's "Green Therapy" Solves 20 Years of Pain for Patients
Ms. Peng, 50 years old, suffered from a car accident more than 20 years ago, which resulted in a right brachial plexus tear injury. Since then, her right upper arm has frequently experienced explosive and intense sharp pain in the deep area, occurring dozens of times a day, each lasting for several seconds. The functional team led by Zhou Hongyu, Chief Physician of the Neurosurgery Department at Renji Hospital affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, utilized the international cutting-edge neural regulation technology - spinal cord electrical stimulation - to solve the chronic and stubborn pain that has plagued Ms. Peng for 20 years.
The pain index score ranges from 0 to 10 points, and Ms. Peng's score upon admission was above 9 points. She experiences dozens of attacks every day, which can be described as excruciating pain. Ms. Peng has sought medical attention from multiple tertiary hospitals in major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. She has undergone various surgical treatments and taken various painkillers, but the results have been minimal. After a detailed inquiry about the patient's medical history and careful physical examination, Zhou Hongyu believes that cervical spinal cord electrical stimulation is the best treatment for Ms. Peng's neuralgia.
Spinal cord electrical stimulation therapy involves implanting electrodes into the spinal canal and using pulsed currents to suppress pain signal transmission in spinal nerves, thereby alleviating chronic and refractory pain. However, for Ms. Peng's spinal cord electrical stimulation therapy, it was not a one-step approach and was divided into two stages: the first stage was the testing stage, and the second stage was the permanent implantation stage.
In the first stage, considering the large range of neck movement, it is more appropriate to implant a paddle shaped surgical electrode and connect a temporary electrical stimulator after surgery. The experts spent two weeks trying many sets of electrical stimulation contacts, designed a series of parameters, and ultimately selected the most effective set of contacts and parameters. After electrical stimulation therapy, a miracle occurred. Ms. Peng's pain frequency has started to decrease, and the degree of pain has also decreased by more than 60%.
In the second stage, the effect of electrical stimulation therapy is more precise. Within less than a week of treatment, the pain frequency is relieved by more than 70%, and the pain index decreases by more than 80%.
Green therapy that does not damage the nerves
Although the incidence rate of intractable neuralgia is not high, the degree of pain is very bearable, and the pain index can generally reach 8 or 9 points. Stubborn neuralgia generally occurs after nerve injury, inflammation, and various peripheral neuropathies. The treatment of stubborn neuralgia is also very challenging, and various painkillers, surgeries, and rehabilitation treatments have had little effect.
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Zhou Hongyu pointed out that stubborn chronic pain caused by various causes has always been a difficult point in the treatment of neurology and pain medicine. At present, the spinal cord electrical stimulation therapy has a relatively definite effect in the treatment of intractable pain, which can be used for pain after spinal cord and peripheral nerve injury, chronic radicular pain, neuralgia after herpes zoster, pain after lumbar and back surgery, complex regional pain syndrome, diabetes foot peripheral neuralgia, Raynaud's disease, post-stroke pain and intractable angina, etc.
Zhang Xiaohua, Director of Neurosurgery at Renji Hospital, introduced that spinal cord electrical stimulation therapy, which does not damage nerves and can avoid the side effects of long-term use of painkillers, is known as "green therapy". In addition to being applied to stubborn pain, this technique can also be applied to coma induced awakening.
Text: Zhang Qi
*Reprinted from official WeChat account released by Pudong