At the 21st annual American Society of Regional Anesthesia (ASRA) pain medicine meeting (17–19 November 2022, Orlando, USA), SPR Therapeutics is highlighting five new data sets demonstrating significant pain relief for a majority of patients resulting from 60-day peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS) treatment using the SPRINT PNS system.
The presentations include results based on the evaluation of SPRINT in targeting chronic pain in the head, neck, shoulder and lower back areas. Additional preclinical work being presented at ASRA 2022 supports the idea that rapid tissue ingrowth may contribute to a lower infection risk for open-coil leads relative to conventional, non-coiled leads, a press release from the company states.
An abstract, titled “Real-world evidence of significant pain relief following 60-day stimulation of occipital nerves for the treatment of chronic pain”, features data presented for the first time based on anonymised outcomes of patients who opted in to provide information and were treated for headache pain in the occipital region. Data evaluated by lead author and SPR consultant Samir Sheth (Sutter Health, Sacramento, USA), and other industry leaders, showed that—of the 44 patients who opted in to provide information—82% of patients (36/44) were responders at the end of treatment with greater than 50% pain relief and/or clinically significant improvements in quality of life.
The occipital nerves are a common target for interventional management of conditions like occipital neuralgia, cervicogenic headache, and other head pain indications, and SPRINT is the only implantable PNS system that enables on-label stimulation of the occipital nerve for the treatment of chronic pain, the release adds.
SPR has also been awarded a President’s Choice selection for “Durability of relief following 60-day percutaneous PNS of the medial branch nerves for chronic axial low back pain”, with lead author and SPR consultant Christopher Gilmore (Carolinas Pain Institute, Winston-Salem, USA) evaluating sustained pain relief for low back pain patients following completion of SPRINT PNS treatment. One-year post-treatment, 77% of participants (48/62) reported clinically meaningful improvement in pain intensity, disability or pain interference.
In addition, the company will be sharing data on the use of PNS to address prevalent, and often debilitating, axial neck pain in an abstract titled “Retrospective review of real-world outcomes following 60-day PNS of the cervical medial branch nerves”, which identified 83% of patients (25/30) as responders at the end of their SPRINT PNS treatment—according to lead author and SPR consultant Ryan Mattie (Cedars-Sinai Pain Center, Los Angeles, USA).
SPR claims that 60-day percutaneous PNS has emerged as a non-destructive treatment that can be used for axial neck pain by targeting efferent fibres in the cervical medial branch nerves to produce comfortable cycling tension in core cervical musculature for pain relief.
Additional abstracts being presented at ASRA 2022 include a study presenting the first real-world, retrospective review of patient outcomes through up to six months following the start of a 60-day PNS treatment for chronic shoulder pain; the first real-world, retrospective review of a large database depicting outcomes during the 60-day PNS treatment period; and a study evaluating open-coil percutaneous PNS leads in a porcine model over the course of a 60-day implant period to assess the timeline and extent of tissue ingrowth.
“We are excited to join some of the greatest pain management professionals in the world at this important event and share clinical information on the application of the SPRINT PNS treatment, including new outcome data when utilised in stimulating the occipital and cervical medial branch nerves to treat chronic head and neck pain for patients,” said Josh Boggs, chief scientific officer at SPR.
