Efficacy of Spinal Cord Stimulation in Patients With a Failed Back Surgery Syndrome. (HDS)

May 23, 2025 updated by: Dieter Mesotten, Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg

The Efficacy of Spinal Cord Stimulation in Patients With a Failed Back Surgery Syndrome.

When patients suffer from chronic pain after multiple back surgeries, this is denominated as the 'failed back surgery syndrome'. A possible treatment for these patients is spinal cord stimulation. This is an invasive treatment where no other treatment options (medication, minimal invasive treaments) can offer progress to the patients' health status. In spinal cord stimulation, an electrode will be placed at the spinal cord under local anaesthesia whereas via a battery a painless electrical stimulation will arise. Clinical research have demonstrated that a new way of spinal cord stimulation can improve back and leg pain significantly. This will lead to a better quality of life for the patients and a decreased use of medications. In Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg, different manners of spinal cord stimulation will be compared to each other.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The patients in our pain centre are implanted with Medtronic material. This material cannot deliver the 10kHz frequency but can deliver up to 5000 Hz (hereinafter referred to as high density stimulation). This also delivers high energy to the spinal cord without palpable paresthesia, with a beneficial effect on the pain.

We wish to include patients who, in accordance with Belgian regulations, have undergone a normal evaluation period with an external battery and who have subsequently had a definitive system implanted. The implant procedure, evaluation period and the material used are identical to patients outside the study context.

We wish to compare different stimulation modes within a patient population in which an epidural electrode for failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS) has been implanted, in order to evaluate the effectiveness. We will evaluate the modality "high-density", conventional stimulation and sham stimulation in the same patient. This can be easily adjusted by reprogramming the implanted battery. For this study we want to use a relatively new study design, namely: single case design (N-of-1 trial). In this, many variables will be evaluated with a limited number of study subjects in order to determine an effect. We want to investigate to what extent the patient experiences the different stimulation modes and to what extent he can compare or prefer these stimulation modes. The stimulation that the patient prefers as most pleasant can be continued afterwards. If the patient does not experience pain reduction during a certain stimulation mode, he can always fall back on his own pain medication.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

6

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

      • Genk, Belgium, 3600
        • Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 75 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Patients with an implanted neurostimulation system met een FBSS met geïmplanteerd

Exclusion Criteria:

  • no knowledge of the Dutch language
  • Addicted to drugs

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Device Feasibility
  • Allocation: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Sham Comparator: SHAM
No stimulation will be given
Spinal cord stimulation will be given according to the arms of the group (no stimulation, high density stimulation of conventional stimulation)
Experimental: High Density Stimulation
New way of spinal cord stimulation
Spinal cord stimulation will be given according to the arms of the group (no stimulation, high density stimulation of conventional stimulation)
Active Comparator: Conventional stimulation
the most used stimulation of the spinal cord
Spinal cord stimulation will be given according to the arms of the group (no stimulation, high density stimulation of conventional stimulation)

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Evaluation of pain
Time Frame: 28 days
Pain will be evaluated in the different groups according to a pain scale varying from 1 to 11 with 0 no pain and 11 a lot of pain
28 days

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Need of medication
Time Frame: 28 days
The difference in medication in the different groups will be assessed using a questionnaire
28 days
Quality of sleep
Time Frame: 28 days
Quality of sleep will be assessed according to a questionnaire
28 days
Quality of life and functional outcome
Time Frame: 28 days
Quality of life will be assessed according to a questionnaire
28 days

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Martine Puylaert, MD PhD, Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

May 1, 2018

Primary Completion (Actual)

December 31, 2022

Study Completion (Actual)

April 1, 2025

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 1, 2018

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 9, 2018

First Posted (Actual)

March 12, 2018

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 30, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 23, 2025

Last Verified

May 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • HDS study

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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