Best Practices for Minimally Invasive Lumbar Spinal Stenosis Treatment 2.0 (MIST): Consensus Guidance from the American Society of Pain and Neuroscience (ASPN).

Introduction: Lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) is a common spinal disease of aging with a growing patient population, paralleling population growth. Minimally invasive treatments are evolving, and the use of these techniques needs guidance to provide the optimal patient safety and efficacy outcomes.

Methods: The American Society of Pain and Neuroscience (ASPN) identified an educational need for guidance on the prudent use of the innovative minimally invasive surgical therapies for the treatment of symptomatic LSS.

A Systematic Literature Review of Peripheral Nerve Stimulation Therapies for the Treatment of Pain.

Objective: To conduct a systematic literature review of peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS) for pain.

Design: Grade the evidence for PNS.

Methods: An international interdisciplinary work group conducted a literature search for PNS.

A Systematic Literature Review of Spine Neurostimulation Therapies for the Treatment of Pain.

Objective: To conduct a systematic literature review of spinal cord stimulation (SCS) for pain.

Design: Grade the evidence for SCS.

Methods: An international, interdisciplinary work group conducted literature searches, reviewed abstracts, and selected studies for grading.

Localized Corticosteroid Injections for Malignant Joint Pain in the Oncologic Population: A Case Series.

Pain is a common issue that is present in cancer survivors as well as those with active malignant processes. Despite opioid analgesics and adjuvant therapies such as systemic corticosteroids, many patients have persistent localized pain. We describe a case series of 3 cancer patients who have concurrent hip- and greater trochanteric-related pain.

Cervical Medial Branch Block Volume Dependent Dispersion Patterns as a Predictor for Ablation Success: A Cadaveric Study.

Background: Neck pain is one of the most common causes of chronic pain and the fourth leading cause of disability worldwide; it is estimated that between 36% and 67% of this pain is due to facet arthropathy. For patients who have pain refractory to conservative treatments literature supports management with diagnostic cervical medial branch blocks (MBBs) to identify the associated facet innervation as the source of pain followed by therapeutic radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of the identified nerves. Cervical RFA has good published outcomes; however, the procedure is dependent upon the specificity of the diagnostic block to achieve maximal success.

Lumbar Medial Branch Block Volume-Dependent Dispersion Patterns as a Predictor for Ablation Success: A Cadaveric Study.

Background: Lumbar facet arthropathy is a common cause of low back pain. Literature supports treatment with radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of associated nerves that innervate lumbar facets when alternative conservative therapies have failed. Diagnostic local anesthetic blocks precede therapeutic ablation, but have a false-positive rate of 27%-63%, and some authors have questioned their utility in predicting therapeutic response to RFA.

Hypodermis Tension Loop: A New Preventative Measure for Lead Migration in the Morbidly Obese.

Electrode migration/displacement is reported to be the most common complication of spinal cord stimulator (SCS) implantation, with the literature reporting incidences from 13.2% to 22.6%.