Spinal Cord Burst Stimulation for Chronic Radicular Pain Following Lumbar Spine Surgery
CompletedNot applicableNCT03546738
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This study has no listed site in Canada in this snapshot. It is included as part of the worldwide chronic pain corpus.
Brief summary (from the registry)
Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) is a widely applied therapy to treat chronic neuropathic pain, and one of the most common indications is persisting radicular neuropathic pain following lumbar spine surgery. In traditional SCS therapies, the objective has been to replace the pain sensation with paresthesia. The anticipation is that the electrical current alters pain processing by masking the sensation of pain with a comfortable tingling or paresthesia. Although patients mostly cope with paresthesia, a significant proportion reports that the sensation is unpleasant. 'Burst' SCS utilizes complex programming to deliver high-frequency stimuli. This SCS technique seems to provide paresthesia-free stimulation, resulting in better pain relief of low back and leg pain then traditional tonic stimulation. The widespread use of SCS has not been backed by solid evidence. The absence of placebo-controlled trials has long been an important point of criticism, but due to the nature of the intervention with sensation of paresthesia, studies with placebo control have so far not been considered possible. When 'burst' SCS is used the stimulation is often unnoticed by the patient, allowing comparison with placebo stimulation. The aim of this randomized double-blind sham-controlled crossover trial is to evaluate the efficacy of 'burst' spinal cord stimulation for chronic radicular pain following spine surgery.
Study details
- Official title
- Spinal Cord Burst Stimulation for Chronic Radicular Pain Following Lumbar Spine Surgery: A Randomized Double-blind Sham-controlled Crossover Trial
- Conditions
- Back Pain With Radiation
- Pain, Postoperative
- Interventions
- Procedure: Burst Spinal Cord Stimulation
- Procedure: Sham spinal cord stimulation
- Device: SCS implant
- Sponsor
- St. Olavs Hospital
- Collaborators
- Norwegian University of Science and Technology
- Start date
- 2018-09-05
- Primary completion
- 2022-05-20
- Sex
- All
- Age range
- from 18 Years
- Results posted
- No results posted in this snapshot
- Countries
- Norway
- Total sites listed
- 1
Eligibility criteria
Show eligibility criteria (verbatim from the registry)
Inclusion Criteria: * Have undergone ≥1 back surgeries and developed chronic radicular pain that has remained refractory to non-surgical treatment for ≥6 months * Minimum pain intensity of 5/10 on the leg pain NRS at baseline * Successful two-week SCS testing period with tonic stimulation (≥2 points reduction in leg pain NRS from baseline). This means patients will experience paresthesia during the SCS trial period * Mandatory assessment at the Multidisciplinary outpatient clinic for back-, neck- and shoulder rehabilitation, St. Olavs University Hospital Exclusion Criteria: * Coexisting conditions that would increase procedural risk (e.g., sepsis, coagulopathy) * History of laminectomy or posterior fusion at the thoracolumbar junction, where percutaneous electrode end tips are routinely placed. * Abnormal pain behavior and/or unresolved psychiatric illness. * Unresolved issues of secondary gain or inappropriate medication use.
Source: ClinicalTrials.gov (US National Library of Medicine), snapshot October 2026. Check the registry for current recruiting status. Record: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT03546738