SPR Therapeutics has announced publication of a prospective case series regarding its SPRINT peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS) system in the treatment of low back pain (LBP) demonstrating sustained pain relief at one year following treatment in the majority of patients. The study, now published in Pain Practice, provides new and encouraging data on the potential for long-term relief of low back pain following a 60-day percutaneous PNS treatment, thereby avoiding opioids, ablation, permanent implants and surgery.
“The results reported in this latest study of the SPRINT PNS system showing sustained relief of chronic LBP and disability for at least 12 months in the majority of patients highlight the potential for percutaneous PNS to obviate the need for opioids and more invasive procedures. This is consistent with previously published research assessing percutaneous PNS for other pain syndromes, where clinically significant reductions in pain and improvements in pain‐related disability were also sustained long‐term,” said Christopher Gilmore of the Carolinas Pain Institute (Winston-Salem, USA) who served as lead author of the study. “This approach has the potential to significantly influence the care continuum for chronic back pain patients by providing a minimally-invasive and short term neurostimulation treatment to patients earlier than has been previously possible.”
This prospective case series study demonstrated a 63% reduction in average pain intensity at 12 months among responders in conjunction with highly significant reductions in disability.
The present study demonstrated improvements in patients with LBP that are similar to those achieved in a recently published double‐blinded randomised controlled trial (RCT) assessing the efficacy of a 60-day treatment using the SPRINT PNS System in patients with chronic post-amputation pain, often regarded as one of the most difficult to treat pain conditions.
According to the company, all low back pain patients completing the 12‐month follow‐up visit were either satisfied or very satisfied with the pain relief they received and reported that had the SPRINT PNS system been available, they would have preferred percutaneous PNS as an earlier treatment.
