Peripheral nerve field stimulation in chronic abdominal pain.

INTRODUCTION: Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS) has become an accepted therapeutic modality for the treatment of intractable pain syndromes, primarily used today in the settings of failed back surgery syndrome, neuropathic back and limb pain. The use of spinal cord stimulators for peripheral nerve field electrostimulation is becoming increasingly recognized as a safe, effective alternative for chronic pain conditions that are refractory to medical management and do not respond to traditional dorsal column stimulation. Advances in technology have allowed for minimally invasive percutaneous placement of multipolar leads with complex programmable systems to provide patient- controlled relief of pain in precisely targeted regions. With these improvements in hardware, the use of Peripheral Nerve Field Stimulation (PNFS) appears to have an untapped potential for providing patients with pain relief for a wider range of underlying conditions than was previously believed possible. We present three cases, each with a different etiology of chronic abdominal pain: one with inguinal neuralgia, one with chronic pancreatitis, and one with pain following liver transplant. Each patient was refractory to conventional medical approaches. For all three patients, PNFS provided significant relief from pain, enabling patients to decrease or discontinue their opioid medications and to enjoy significant improvement in their quality of life. We conclude that PNFS is a safe, effective and minimally invasive treatment that may be used successfully for a wide variety of indications including chronic abdominal pain.