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

OBJECTIVE Our goal was to determine 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 eight-electrode 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.