Background: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is a recent technique that has shown some promising short-term results in patients with chronic refractory neuropathic pain. Three years after the first case series, we assessed its efficacy on a larger cohort, with longer follow-up.
Methods: Twenty-four patients (19 males; average age, 49.
Background: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a well-established treatment to reduce tremor, notably in Parkinson disease. DBS may also be effective in post-traumatic tremor, one of the most common movement disorders caused by head injury. However, the cohorts of patients often have multiple lesions that may impact the outcome depending on which fiber tracts are affected.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is a new treatment for alleviating intractable neuropathic pain. However, it fails to help some patients. The large size of the ACC and the intersubject variability make it difficult to determine the optimal site to position DBS electrodes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDeep brain stimulation (DBS) is a neurosurgical intervention popularised in movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease, and also reported to improve symptoms of epilepsy, Tourette's syndrome, obsessive compulsive disorders and cluster headache. Since the 1950s, DBS has been used as a treatment to relieve intractable pain of several aetiologies including post stroke pain, phantom limb pain, facial pain and brachial plexus avulsion. Several patient series have shown benefits in stimulating various brain areas, including the sensory thalamus (ventral posterior lateral and medial), the periaqueductal and periventricular grey, or, more recently, the anterior cingulate cortex.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has shown considerable promise for relieving nociceptive and neuropathic symptoms of refractory chronic pain. Nevertheless, for some patients, standard DBS for pain remains poorly efficacious. Pain is a multidimensional experience with an affective component: the unpleasantness.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDeep brain stimulation (DBS) has shown promise for relieving nociceptive and neuropathic symptoms of refractory chronic pain. We assessed the efficacy of a new target for the affective component of pain, the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). A 49-year-old man with neuropathic pain underwent bilateral ACC DBS.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) to treat neuropathic pain refractory to pharmacotherapy has reported variable outcomes and has gained United Kingdom but not USA regulatory approval.
Objective: To prospectively assess long-term efficacy of DBS for chronic neuropathic pain in a single-center case series.
Methods: Patient reported outcome measures were collated before and after surgery, using a visual analog score, short-form 36-question quality-of-life survey, McGill pain questionnaire, and EuroQol-5D questionnaires (EQ-5D and health state).