Development of Spinal Cord Stimulator for Chronic Pain Treatment

Correspondence: [email protected] University of Brasilia at Gama, Gama, DF, Brazil Full list of author information is available at the end of the article †Equal contributor Abstract This paper presents the development of a Spinal Cord Stimulator (SCS) prototype targeted to the treatment of chronic pain. A SCS system is usually comprised of a telemetric transmitter and a implantable stimulation circuit, also referred as implantable pulse generator (IPG). The transmitter acts as an external programmer, sending stimulation parameters such as signal amplitude, frequency, pulse-width and type of waveform to a modulator circuit. The stimulation circuit then applies pulses according to the specified parameters directly into the epidural space of the spinal cord with the help of electrode leads surgically implanted in the mentioned region. We first present a theoretical background on the subject of spinal cord stimulation. Then we present the methods behind our architecture and hardware selection, with a detailed view on each section. Experimental procedures done in our laboratory are also presented as well as out methods of analysis. Finally we analyze the accuracy of our prototype in comparison to commercially available SCS systems and discuss about future hardware and system architecture changes.