Deep brain stimulation for neuropathic pain

Abstract

Paresthesia-producing (PP), but not periventricular grey (PVG) deep brain stimulation (DBS) proved effective in steady neuropathic pain in 25 patients receiving both, regardless of the PP site stimulated, but PVG-DBS suppressed allodynia or hyperpathia in 3 cases of stroke-induced pain. In patients with stroke-induced central pain, PP-DBS was unpleasant in 6 of 17 (35%), all with allodynia and/or hyperpathia, but not in patients with spinal cord central or peripheral neuropathic pain with allodynia or hyperpathia. Of 11 patients in whom prior ineffective dorsal column stimulation (DCS) produced appropriate paresthesia, none responded to PP-DBS; 5 of 7 did so in whom DCS produced no paresthesia or relieved pain. Periaqueductal grey DBS was nearly always unpleasant, PVG-DBS sometimes was.