A safe and minimally invasive implanted stimulation device is getting mostly positive reviews from neurosurgeons, with some experts saying it represents a "paradigm shift" in the treatment of mechanical low back pain.
Results from a multicountry study show that the ReActiv8 device (Mainstay Medical Limited) is efficacious, improving function and reducing pain for up to 2 years for patients with back pain caused by loss of function in the multifidus muscle.
"We're really getting a muscle that wasn't going to fire again," co-investigator Chris Gilligan, MD, chief of the Division of Pain Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, told Medscape Medical News.
The intervention represents the first restorative neurostimulation for back pain, Gilligan said. Conventional spinal cord devices stimulate sensory nerves and merely cover up pain, he noted.
"This isn't covering up pain. This is restoring function of the strongest stabilizing muscle of the lumbar spine and in that way returning neuromuscular control and stability such that the patient's pain improves," Gilligan said.
The findings were discussed at the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) 2021 Annual Meeting, which was held online.
"Like a Pleasant Massage"
Patients with chronic neuropathic low back pain may be candidates for surgical procedures, such as fusion or decompression.
