J Korean Neurosurg Soc.  2009 Aug;46(2):165-167. 10.3340/jkns.2009.46.2.165.

Spinal Cord Stimulation for Intractable Visceral Pain due to Chronic Pancreatitis

• Kim JK
• Hong SH
• Kim MH
• Lee JK

• KMID: 2190015
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3340/jkns.2009.46.2.165

Abstract

Pain caused by chronic pancreatitis is medically intractable and resistant to conventional interventional or surgical treatment. We report a case of spinal cord stimulation (SCS) for intractable pain due to chronic pancreatitis. The patient had a history of nonalcoholic chronic pancreatitis and multiple emergency room visits as well as repeated hospitalization including multiple nerve block and morphine injection for 3 years. We implanted surgical lead at T6-8 level on this patient after successful trial of percutaneous electrode. The patient experienced a decreased visual analog scale (VAS) scores for pain intensity and amount of opioid intake. The patient was followed for more than 14 months with good outcome and no further hospitalization. From our clinical case, spinal cord stimulation on intractable pain due to chronic pancreatitis revealed moderate pain control outcome. We suggest that SCS is an effective, noninvasive treatment option for abdominal visceral pain. Further studies and long term follow-up are needed to fully understand the effect of SCS on abdominal visceral pain.

Keyword

Visceral pain; Spinal cord stimulation; Chronic pancreatitis

MeSH Terms

Electrodes
Emergencies
Follow-Up Studies
Hospitalization
Humans
Morphine
Nerve Block
Pain, Intractable
Pancreatitis, Chronic
Spinal Cord
Spinal Cord Stimulation
Visceral Pain
Morphine