Conventional management and current guidelines for painful diabetic neuropathy

Painful Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy (PDN) is common, affecting around a quarter of patients with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, and can lead to significant curtailment of functionality and quality of life. Patients may present with unremitting burning, aching or "electric-shock" type pains in their feet, legs and later, in the hands. Conventional management approaches must focus not only on pain relief, but also on concurrent sleep problems, mood disorders and functionality. The mainstay of treatment is pharmacotherapy. Most current international guidelines recommend a choice of four drugs: amitriptyline, duloxetine, pregabalin or gabapentin, as initial treatment for PDN. Recent evidence from the OPTION-DM trial demonstrated that these drugs and their combinations have equivalent efficacy. Moreover, combination treatment provided significant pain relief to patients with inadequate response to the maximum tolerated dose of monotherapy. PDN refractory to pharmacotherapy can be treated with capsaicin 8% or high frequency spinal cord stimulation.

[Minimally invasive implantation technique of a system for spinal cord stimulation]

OBJECTIVE

Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) targets structures of the dorsal column and dorsal horn of the spinal cord with electrical impulses, thereby, modulating pain perception. For chronic pain patients, e.g., in failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS), the aim is to achieve pain relief and enable patients to improve their quality of life.

INDICATIONS

Failed back surgery syndrome, complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) type I and II, therapy-refractory ischemic pain, neuropathic pain syndromes (e.g., phantom limb pain).

CONTRAINDICATIONS

Identification of degenerative alterations as the cause of pain; untreated mental illness.

SURGICAL TECHNIQUE

A two-stage implantation technique is performed. Initially, after percutaneous implantation of epidural leads a trial period with stimulation by an external pulse generator is evaluated. Following verification of pain relief, a subcutaneous internal pulse generator is implanted.

FOLLOW-UP

Early mobilization and adjustment of stimulation parameters.

RESULTS

In all, 19 consecutive patients with FBSS were treated by high frequency SCS (HF-SCS) and included in a prospective prognostic study. In 18 patients, an internal pulse generator (IPG) for HF-SCS was permanently implanted. Therapy success was assessed using the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), visual analogue pain scale (VAS) and painDetect questionnaire. Neuropathic pain of the legs versus the back (median values: VAS leg 71 mm, VAS back 69 mm) was dominant in the patients at a preoperative mean ODI of 63%. With HF-SCS therapy, a pronounced pain reduction was seen and persisted in the follow-up after 6 months (VAS leg 18 mm, VAS back 24 mm). The ODI showed an improvement to a mean of 24% after 6 months.