Safe Neurostimulation Against Pain

Chronic neuropathic pain is cumbersome, difficult to treat, and a growing and costly problem in modern medical care, and causes a dramatic loss of Quality-of-Life in many patients, and often can only be treated using medications that have serious side-effects (dependence, drowsiness), such as opioids or opiates (morphine). 

 A successful alternative to these medications is direct electrostimulation of the spinal cord (Spinal Cord Stimulation, SCS). The current clinical SCS technique using electrodes on a catheter, however, has major drawbacks because the catheter needs to be placed within the very vulnerable epidural space where infection or connective tissue formation will have serious consequences. Furthermore, the SCS catheter tends to migrate in many patients. These drawbacks prevent broader application of SCS in patients suffering from neuropathic pain.  

To overcome these problems with the existing SCS technique, we (the Dept of Medical Technology of the UMC Utrecht and its consortium partners) have developed a new concept (SNAP, Safe Neurostimulation Against Pain), in which the electrodes are placed outside the vulnerable epidural space. In order to make SCS work from outside the epidural space, we have designed a new multi-electrode system on a small, stand-alone, wire-shaped implant that takes advantage of the electrically insulating property of the bone tissue surrounding the spinal cord as a means of projecting the electrical stimulation current into the target area inside the spinal cord. Upon completion of the project, a fully optimized and functional prototype has been developed and manufactured out of fully patient-safe materials, and has been tested in both willed-body cadavers as well as in fresh material from animal cadavers