Publications by authors named "Kiran V Patel"

Introduction: Chronic pain is a personal experience influenced by multiple biopsychosocial factors. Using a pain intensity measure alone to assess the effectiveness of a chronic pain intervention fails to fully evaluate its impact on the multifaceted chronic pain experience. The holistic minimal clinically important difference (MCID) is a composite outcome developed to provide a comprehensive assessment of chronic pain in response to intervention, across 5 outcome domains: pain intensity, health-related quality of life, sleep quality, physical, and emotional function.

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The need to be competent in neuromodulation is and should be a prerequisite prior to completing a fellowship in interventional pain medicine. Unfortunately, many programs lack acceptable candidates for these advanced therapies, and fellows may not receive adequate exposure to neuromodulation procedures. The American Society of Pain and Neuroscience (ASPN) desires to create a consensus of experts to set a minimum standard of competence for neurostimulation procedures, including spinal cord stimulation (SCS), dorsal root ganglion stimulation (DRG-S), and peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS).

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With continued innovations in neuromodulation comes the need for evolving reviews of best practices. Dorsal root ganglion stimulation (DRG-S) has significantly improved the treatment of complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), and it has broad applicability across a wide range of other conditions. Through funding and organizational leadership by the American Society for Pain and Neuroscience (ASPN), this best practices consensus document has been developed for the selection, implantation, and use of DRG stimulation for the treatment of chronic pain syndromes.

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Article Synopsis
  • Pain is a complex issue with various types, and while opioids have traditionally been used for treatment, their risks of addiction and fatalities have sparked interest in cannabinoids as an alternative.
  • A study conducted in June 2022 reviewed the effectiveness of cannabinoids for managing different pain types, highlighting their potential as an adjunct or replacement for opioids, while focusing on recent and relevant research.
  • The findings are mixed: cannabinoids have shown promise in treating chronic pain like neuropathic and geriatric pain, but evidence for their effectiveness in acute postoperative and most musculoskeletal pain is less clear, and there’s insufficient data comparing them directly to opioids.
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Chronic low back pain is a worldwide leading cause of pain and disability. Degenerative disc disease has been the presumptive etiology in the majority of cases of chronic low back pain (CLBP). More recent study and treatments have discovered that the vertebral endplates play a large role in CLBP in a term defined as vertebrogenic back pain.

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Introduction: Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) can provide long-term pain relief for various chronic pain conditions, but some patients have no relief with trial stimulation or lose efficacy over time. To "salvage" relief in patients who do not respond or have lost efficacy, alternative stimulation paradigms or anatomical targets can be considered. Dorsal root ganglion stimulation (DRG-S) has a different mechanism of action and anatomical target than SCS.

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Introduction: Dorsal root ganglion stimulation (DRG-S) is a relatively new neuromodulation modality. Therefore, data on long-term device explantation rates is limited. This investigation aimed to assess DRG-S device explantation rates at long-term follow-up.

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Objective: A heightened and organized understanding of sacral anatomy could potentially lead to a more effective and safe method of dorsal root ganglion stimulation (DRG-S) lead placement. The aim of this technical note is to describe a standardized access method for S1 DRG-S lead placement.

Design: Technical note.

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Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocols describe a standardized method of preoperative, perioperative, and postoperative care to enhance outcomes and minimize complication risks surrounding elective surgical intervention. A growing body of evidence is being generated as we learn to apply principles of ERAS standardization to neurosurgical patients. First applied in spinal surgery, ERAS protocols have been extended to cranial neuro-oncologic procedures.

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Introduction: The International Neuromodulation Society convened a multispecialty group of physicians based on expertise with international representation to establish evidence-based guidance on the use of neurostimulation in the cervical region to improve outcomes. This Neurostimulation Appropriateness Consensus Committee (NACC) project intends to provide evidence-based guidance for an often-overlooked area of neurostimulation practice.

Materials And Methods: Authors were chosen based upon their clinical expertise, familiarity with the peer-reviewed literature, research productivity, and contributions to the neuromodulation literature.

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Introduction: Dorsal root ganglion stimulation (DRG-S), has demonstrated superiority in the treatment of complex regional pain syndrome and causalgia. Lead migration and fracture impact DRG-S therapeutic stability. Lead anchoring reduces DRG-S lead migration without increasing lead fracture.

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Article Synopsis
  • Dorsal root ganglion stimulation (DRG-S) is a neuromodulation technique with varying outcomes related to lead migration and fractures, leading researchers to study the effects of lead anchoring.
  • In a review of 756 leads from 249 patients, results showed that unanchored leads experienced significantly higher migration rates (8.4%) compared to anchored leads (1.4%), indicating that anchoring improves stability.
  • While anchoring reduced lead migration significantly, the fracture rates between anchored (1.9%) and unanchored leads (3.1%) were not statistically different, suggesting anchoring primarily benefits migration rather than fracture prevention.
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We present 4 cases of dorsal root ganglion stimulation lead fracture. In these cases, the surgical technique involved (1) traversing fascial layers for placement of leads via a Tuohy needle in the upper low back, (2) subcutaneous tunneling from the implantable pulse generator site to the lead puncture site without dissecting below the superficial fascial plane at the puncture site, and (3) connection of the lead/extension with the generator. All fractures occurred adjacent to the original lead puncture site.

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Dorsal root ganglion stimulation (DRG-S) has shown promise as a treatment for low back pain. The traditional anterograde placement of DRG-S leads can be challenging in patients with anatomical changes from prior back surgery. We describe an "outside-in" placement technique of DRG-S leads in 4 patients with histories of multiple lumbar surgeries, which made the traditional anterograde placement not feasible.

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Introduction: Dorsal root ganglion stimulation (DRG-S) is a neuromodulation technique for treating neuropathic pain syndromes. Research has demonstrated DRG-S to be more effective than conventional SCS in treating RSD/CRPS, particularly of the lower extremities. Results from recent case series and prospective studies suggest that DRG-S may be effective in treatment of pain syndromes considered to have non-neuropathic components and characteristics (e.

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