ArticleRegional anesthesia and pain medicine2025
Long-term explantation risk in patients with chronic pain treated with spinal cord or dorsal root ganglion stimulation.
Article in Regional anesthesia and pain medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Long-term outcomes of spinal cord stimulation for refractory phantom limb pain.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Perioperative Predictors of Early Spinal Cord Stimulator Removal: A Retrospective Cohort Study.Neurology international · 2025Article
- A Call for Reckoning and Reform in Interventional Pain Medicine and Neuromodulation Research.Journal of pain research · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo investigate long-term explantation risks and causes for the explantation of neuromodulation devices for the treatment of chronic pain from different manufacturers.
methodsThis retrospective analysis included patients implanted with a system for spinal cord stimulation (SCS) or dorsal root ganglion (DRG) stimulation at Sahlgrenska University Hospital between January 2012 and December 2022. Patient characteristics, explantation rates and causes for explantation were obtained by reviewing medical records.
resultsIn total, 400 patients were included in the study. Including all manufacturers, the cumulative explantation risk for any reason was 17%, 23% and 38% at 3, 5 and 10 years, respectively. Explantation risk due to diminished pain relief at the same intervals was 10%, 14% and 23%. A subgroup comparison of 5-year explantation risk using Kaplan-Meier analysis did not show a statistically significant difference between the manufacturers. In multivariable Cox regression analyses, there was no difference in explantation risk for any reason, but for explantation due to diminished pain relief, a higher risk was noted for Medtronic (preferably older types of SCS devices) and DRG stimulation. No other predictive factor for explantation was found.
conclusionsAlthough SCS and DRG stimulation are well-established and safe treatments for chronic pain, the long-term explantation risk remains high. The difference between manufacturers highlights the importance of technological evolution for improving therapy outcomes. Increased stringency in patient selection and follow-up strategies, as well as further development of device hardware and software technology for increased longevity, could possibly reduce long-term explantation risks.
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