Abstract
This Practice Point commentary discusses a study by Manca et al. that aimed to investigate the health-related quality-of-life and cost implications of spinal cord stimulation (SCS) plus nonsurgical conventional medical management (CMM) versus nonsurgical CMM alone. Manca et al. reported that the mean total 6-month health-care cost in the SCS group was significantly higher than that in the CMM alone group. However, the gain in health-related quality of life for patients undergoing SCS was significantly greater than that for patients undergoing CMM alone over this same period. In addition, patients in the SCS group used fewer analgesics and nondrug pain treatments (e.g. physical therapy), thus offsetting the upfront costs of SCS by 15%. The relevance of this study in providing an evaluation of health-care expenditures directed at treating low back pain relative to actual treatment outcomes is discussed.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$209.00 per year
only $17.42 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Martin BI et al. (2008) Expenditures and health status among adults with back and neck problems. JAMA 299: 656–664
Weir BK et al. (1980) Reoperation rate following lumbar discectomy: an analysis of 662 lumbar discectomies. Spine 5: 366–370
Hazard RG (2006) Failed back surgery syndrome: surgical and nonsurgical approaches. Clin Orthop Relat Res 443: 228–232
North RB et al. (2005) Spinal cord stimulation versus repeated lumbosacral spine surgery for chronic pain: a randomized, controlled trial. Neurosurgery 56: 98–107
Taylor RS et al. (2005) Spinal cord stimulation for chronic back and leg pain and failed back surgery syndrome: a systematic review and analysis of prognostic factors. Spine 30: 152–160
Manca A et al. (2008) Quality of life, resource consumption and costs of spinal cord stimulation versus conventional medical management in neuropathic pain patients with failed back surgery syndrome (PROCESS trial). Eur J Pain [10.1016/j.ejpain.2008.01.014]
Kumar K et al. (2007) Spinal cord stimulation versus conventional medical management for neuropathic pain: a multicentre randomised controlled trial in patients with failed back surgery syndrome. Pain 132: 179–188
Sullivan PW and Ghushchyan V (2006) Preference-Based EQ-5D index scores for chronic conditions in the United States. Med Decis Making 26: 410–420
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
ZL Gokaslan has declared associations with the following companies: DePuy (grant/research support), Spinal Kinetics (stock holder/director), Synthes (grant/research support) and US Spine (stock holder/director). DM Sciubba declared no competing interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sciubba, D., Gokaslan, Z. Spinal cord stimulation for failed back surgery syndrome—does it work and is it cost-effective?. Nat Rev Neurol 4, 472–473 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncpneuro0865
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ncpneuro0865