Spinal cord stimulation in complex regional pain syndrome type 2.

INTRODUCTION: Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) may be used to treat complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) when other treatments fail. This study aimed to describe the effects of SCS for CRPS with known nerve injury, i.e. CRPS type 2 (CRPS-2), on pain reduction and opioid use. METHODS: Data from the outpatient clinic were retrieved from the Neurizon Neuromodulation Database. The patient records of 16 patients treated with SCS at Aalborg University Hospital, Denmark, who met the Budapest (2003) criteria for CRPS-2 and completed six- and 12+-month follow-up were included. In Excel, paired t-tests comparison was used to identify the effect of SCS in regard to the aspects mentioned above. RESULTS: Eight of the 16 patients (50%) enrolled in this study had clinically significant pain reduction when treated with SCS. The average pain reduction for the whole cohort was more than 20%, going from average numerical rating scale 8.0 to 6.2 (p = 0.0006) and 6.0 (p = 0.0011) at the six-month and 12+-month follow-up, respectively. The use of opiods did not change significantly. Seven patients needed revision procedures and the system was explanted in one patient. CONCLUSION: SCS may offer clinically relevant pain reduction in CRPS-2. However, in our cohort only half of the patients experienced a clinically significant response, and the costs and complications associated with SCS were considerable. Thus, further knowledge on patient selection and the SCS treatment mechanisms are warranted. FUNDING: none. TRIAL REGISTRATION: not relevant.

Intradural Extramedullary Ewing Sarcoma in an Adolescent Female.

A 15-year-old female experiencing lumbar pain without prior trauma. Despite being prescribed strong analgesics by her family physician, the symptoms intensified, and she was referred to diagnostic imaging. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed an intradural extramedullary tumor in the spinal canal, located behind the L3 corpora. The patient underwent neurosurgery with a complete resection of the tumor. The histopathologic examination revealed Ewing sarcoma by identifying EWSR1 gene in the extracted tissue. The patient was subsequently referred for extensive specialized oncological treatment including photon irradiation therapy and chemotherapy. Thirty-six months on from the initial diagnosis, the patient is doing well and suffers no sequelae apart from hypogonadism.

Association of Lumbar Puncture With Spinal Hematoma in Patients With and Without Coagulopathy.

Importance: Coagulopathy may deter physicians from performing a lumbar puncture. Objective: To determine the risk of spinal hematoma after lumbar puncture in patients with and without coagulopathy. Design, Setting, and Participants: Danish nationwide, population-based cohort study using medical registries to identify persons who underwent lumbar puncture and had cerebrospinal fluid analysis (January 1, 2008-December 31, 2018; followed up through October 30, 2019). Coagulopathy was defined as platelets lower than 150 × 109/L, international normalized ratio (INR) greater than 1.4, or activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) longer than 39 seconds. Exposures: Coagulopathy at the time of lumbar puncture. Main Outcomes and Measures: Thirty-day risk of spinal hematoma. Risks were provided as numbers and percentages with 95% CIs. Secondary analyses included risks of traumatic lumbar puncture (>300 × 106 erythrocytes/L after excluding patients diagnosed with subarachnoid hemorrhage). Adjusted hazard rate ratios (HRs) were computed using Cox regression models. Results: A total of 83 711 individual lumbar punctures were identified among 64 730 persons (51% female; median age, 43 years [interquartile range, 22-62 years]) at the time of the procedure. Thrombocytopenia was present in 7875 patients (9%), high INR levels in 1393 (2%), and prolonged APTT in 2604 (3%). Follow-up was complete for more than 99% of the study participants. Overall, spinal hematoma occurred within 30 days for 99 of 49 526 patients (0.20%; 95% CI, 0.16%-0.24%) without coagulopathy vs 24 of 10 371 patients (0.23%; 95% CI, 0.15%-0.34%) with coagulopathy. Independent risk factors for spinal hematoma were male sex (adjusted hazard ratio [HR], 1.72; 95% CI, 1.15-2.56), those aged 41 through 60 years (adjusted HR, 1.96; 95% CI, 1.01-3.81) and those aged 61 through 80 years (adjusted HR, 2.20; 95% CI, 1.12-4.33). Risks did not increase significantly according to overall severity of coagulopathy, in subgroup analyses of severity of coagulopathy by pediatric specialty or medical indication (infection, neurological condition, and hematological malignancy), nor by cumulative number of procedures. Traumatic lumbar punctures occurred more frequently among patients with INR levels of 1.5 to 2.0 (36.8%; 95% CI, 33.3%-40.4%), 2.1 to 2.5 (43.7%; 95% CI, 35.8%-51.8%), and 2.6 to 3.0 (41.9% 95% CI 30.5-53.9) vs those with normal INR (28.2%; 95% CI, 27.7%-28.75%). Traumatic spinal tap occurred more often in patients with an APTT of 40 to 60 seconds (26.3%; 95% CI, 24.2%-28.5%) vs those with normal APTT (21.3%; 95% CI, 20.6%-21.9%) yielding a risk difference of 5.1% (95% CI, 2.9%-7.2%). Conclusions and Relevance: In this Danish cohort study, risk of spinal hematoma following lumbar puncture was 0.20% among patients without coagulopathy and 0.23% among those with coagulopathy. Although these findings may inform decision-making about lumbar puncture by describing rates in this sample, the observed rates may reflect bias due to physicians selecting relatively low-risk patients for lumbar puncture.