Retrospective Analysis of Real-World Outcomes of 10 kHz SCS in Patients with Upper Limb and Neck Pain

BACKGROUND: Patients living with chronic upper limb and neck (ULN) pain are reliant on often ineffective therapies as they face limited options for effective long-term treatment. OBJECTIVE: Prospective clinical studies have demonstrated that high-frequency spinal cord stimulation at 10 kHz (10 kHz SCS) is effective in treating chronic pain in multiple etiologies including ULN pain. This study aimed at validating the findings from clinical studies on ULN in a real-world cohort. STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective, observational review. SETTING: A multicenter review between April 2016 and August 2019. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Anonymized data were extracted from a real-world database of 47 consecutive patients aged ≥18 years of age with chronic upper limb and/or neck pain who were trialed and permanently implanted with 10 kHz SCS. Patient-reported pain relief, quality of life, function, sleep and medication use were extracted from anonymised patient records where available. Responder rates, defined as the proportion of patients with at least 50% pain relief at the end of trial and the last visit after implantation, were calculated. RESULTS: All patients reported successful response (≥50% pain relief) at the end of trial and >75% patients continued to respond to the therapy at the last follow-up period. Majority (72%) of patients reported improvement in function, about half of the patients (53%) reported improvement in sleep and one-third of the patients (36%) reported reducing their medication at last follow-up. CONCLUSION: 10 kHz SCS provides durable pain relief to patients with chronic upper limb and neck pain.