Chronic Intractable Pain

Louisiana Pain Specialists Become the First in New Orleans to Use New Treatment Therapy for Patients Suffering from Chronic Intractable Pain

JANUARY 27, 2017 – Louisiana Pain Specialists is the first facility in New Orleans to use a new neurostimulation device designed to relieve the sensation of pain in patients suffering from chronic intractable pain. The device, known as the St. Jude Medical Axium™ Neurostimulator System for dorsal root ganglion (DRG) stimulation.

Dr. Neil Jolly has implanted the St. Jude Medical Axium system on several patients, ranging in age from 36 to 78.
Unlike traditional neurostimulation devices, the St. Jude Medical Axium system targets the DRG, a spinal structure densely populated with sensory nerves that transmit information to the brain via the spinal cord.

This first-of-its-kind device delivers a form of spinal stimulation that can target the specific areas of the body where pain occurs. As a result, DRG stimulation gives physicians the ability to effectively provide pain relief to patients with neuropathic conditions otherwise underserved by traditional SCS. Patients suffering from chronic lower limb pain associated with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) who have previously tried multiple treatment options without receiving adequate pain relief.

“Dorsal root ganglion therapy is an exciting, new FDA-approved platform for spinal cord stimulation that allows us to specifically target painful regions such as the groin, knee, and foot for our patients,” said Dr. Jolly. “While spinal cord stimulation has offered us interventional pain physicians a useful therapy to offer our patients that have suffered from low back and extremity pain, we now have a modality in treating focal painful conditions.”

According to the Institute of Medicine, chronic pain affects more than 100 million Americans, an incidence rate which outpaces heart disease, cancer and diabetes combined. Research suggests that, in total, the condition costs the American population an estimated 515 million workdays annually and generates upwards of 40 million visits to physicians each year.

“While I have always viewed spinal cord stimulation as the most powerful tool in treating chronic pain, I now have an entirely new tool with dorsal root ganglion stimulation that has vastly expanded the opportunities for me to help my patients get pain relief,” Dr. Jolly continued.

Long term data from the ACCURATE clinical trial have shown significantly more patients receiving DRG stimulation achieved meaningful pain relief and greater treatment success when compared to patients receiving traditional SCS (74.2 percent vs. 53 percent). Study findings also demonstrated patients receiving DRG stimulation reported no differences in paresthesia (tingling) intensity due to changes in body position (known as postural effects) when compared to traditional SCS. After 12-months, nearly all patients receiving DRG stimulation reported better stimulation targeting in their area of pain without extraneous paresthesia than patients receiving traditional SCS (94.5 percent vs. 61.2 percent).

About the St. Jude Medical Axium Neurostimulator System

The Axium Neurostimulator System stimulates a spinal target called the dorsal root ganglion (DRG), which contains primary sensory neurons that transmit pain signals from nerves to the brain. DRG stimulation with the Axium system has been shown to be particularly effective for treating pain in areas currently underserved by traditional SCS, such as the groin, lower leg and feet. The Axium system is approved for use in the U.S., Europe and Australia.

About Louisiana Pain Specialists

Dr. Tarun Jolly, Dr. Neil Jolly and Dr. Satvik Munshi with Louisiana Pain Specialists successfully treat all types of pain. They offer safe, minimally invasive, clinically proven interventional treatments that are highly effective at five locations throughout the Greater New Orleans area.