Successful treatment of charcot-marie-tooth chronic pain with spinal cord stimulation: a case study.

OBJECTIVES   Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease is one of the most common hereditary neuropathies affecting one in 2500 people in the United States. CMT disease is associated with moderate to severe chronic extremity pain. We present the case of a young man with chronic intractable lower extremity pain associated with CMT disease treated with spinal cord stimulation (SCS). MATERIALS AND METHODS   This was an Institutional Review Board-approved case study involving a 37-year-old man diagnosed with CMT disease with pain of more than 20 years. He was implanted with an SCS device and patient pain and quality of life was assessed one and six months later using the SF-McGill Pain Questionnaire, Visual Analog Scale, Oswestry Disability Questionnaire, Pain Disability Index, and SF-36. Baseline measures were obtained retrospectively. Qualitative data were collected from the medical record. RESULTS   SCS was effective in decreasing pain, improving quality of life and reducing medication consumption at both one and six months post-implant. In addition, the patient was satisfied with SCS treatment. CONCLUSION   SCS produced favorable results in a patient with CMT and should be considered a treatment option for pain resulting from this condition.