Spinal cord stimulation as alternative treatment for chronic post-herniorrhaphy pain

Objective: Our goal was todetermine the efficacy of spinal cord stimulation for patients with intractable post-herniorrhaphy pain which conventional treatment failed to ameliorate. Procedure: The patients underwent an uneventful spinal cord stimulator (SCS) trial with percutaneous placement of two eightelectrode epidural leads (Medtronic Inc, Minneapolis, MN, USA) to level T7-T8-T9. Results: Upon experiencing excellent pain relief over the next two days during the trial, the patients were implanted with permanent leads and rechargeable or non-rechargeable generators two to four weeks later and reported sustained pain relief during following 12 months after implantation. Conclusion: We conclude that SCS offers an alternative treatment option for intractable post-herniorrhaphy pain. This type of treatment should be considered for use in a select group of patients when all conventional treatments failed.