ArticleGlobal spine journal2021
A Systematic Review of the Cost-Utility of Spinal Cord Stimulation for Persistent Low Back Pain in Patients With Failed Back Surgery Syndrome.
Article in Global spine journal, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- Economic evaluation of management strategies for complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS).Frontiers in pharmacology · 2024Pooled it
- Trial
- Neuromodulation strategies in postburn care for pain rehabilitation and scar remodelling.Communications medicine · 2026Review
- The Etiology and Treatment of Failed Back Surgery Syndrome in Patients with Primary Lumbar Fixation.Journal of orthopaedic case reports · 2026Article
- A Semi-structured Interview Predicts Spinal Cord Stimulator Implantation in Patients with Chronic Pain.Journal of clinical psychology in medical settings · 2026Article
- All-in-one spinal cord stimulation and its economic impact.Health economics review · 2026Article
- Contemporary innovations in spine surgery: balancing technological advancement and cost-effectiveness.Journal of spine surgery (Hong Kong) · 2025Article
- Development and Feasibility Study of a Triage Tool for Early Referral to Spinal Cord Stimulation for Patients With Chronic Low Back and Leg Pain.European journal of pain (London, England) · 2025Article
- An Evidence-Based Consensus for the Use of Neurostimulation for the Treatment of Non-Surgical Low Back Pain: The NEURON Group.Journal of pain research · 2025Review
- Healthcare Utilization (HCU) Reduction with High-Frequency (10 kHz) Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS) Therapy.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Psychophysiological biomarkers to assess the effectiveness of surface electromyography biofeedback as an alternative therapy to reduce chronic low back pain: protocol for a randomised controlled trial.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2024Article
- Failed Back Surgery Syndrome: No Longer a Surgeon's Defeat-A Narrative Review.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2023Review
- Electrical stimulation for the treatment of spinal cord injuries: A review of the cellular and molecular mechanisms that drive functional improvements.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2023Review
- No Zero Sum in Opioids for Chronic Pain: Neurostimulation and the Goal of Opioid Sparing, Not Opioid Eradication.Journal of pain research · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
STUDY
designSystematic Review.
objectivesTo review the literature surrounding the cost-effectiveness of implanting spinal cord stimulators for failed back surgery syndrome.
methodsA systematic review was conducted inclusive of all publications in the Medline database and Cochrane CENTRAL trials register within the last 10 years (English language only) assessing the cost-effectiveness of Spinal Cord Stimulator device implantation (SCSdi) in patients with previous lumbar fusion surgery.
resultsThe majority of reviewed publications that analyzed cost-effectiveness of SCSdi compared to conventional medical management (CMM) or re-operation in patients with failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS) showed an overall increase in direct medical costs; these increased costs were found in nearly all cases to be offset by significant improvements in patient quality of life. The cost required to achieve these increases in quality adjusted life years (QALY) falls well below $25 000/QALY, a conservative estimate of willingness to pay.
conclusionsThe data suggest that SCSdi provides both superior outcomes and a lower incremental cost: effectiveness ratio (ICER) compared to CMM and/or re-operation in patients with FBSS. These findings are in spite of the fact that the majority of studies reviewed were agnostic to the type of device or innervation utilized in SCSdi. Newer devices utilizing burst or higher frequency stimulation have demonstrated their superiority over traditional SCSdi via randomized clinical trials and may provide lower ICERs.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.