Clinical outcome of patients treated with spinal cord stimulation for therapeutically refractory angina pectoris. The Working Group on Neurocardiology.

OBJECTIVE: To determine morbidity and mortality characteristics in patients treated with electrical neuromodulation for refractory angina pectoris. DESIGN: A retrospective multicentre study of patients treated with spinal cord stimulation between 1987 and 1997; 21 centres were contacted and 14 responded. SETTING: Specialist centres worldwide. PATIENTS: Questionnaires were returned on 517 patients, of whom 71% were male. One was lost to follow up. Mean (SD) age was 63.9 (10.1) years. Duration of angina pectoris was 8.1 (6.3) years. RESULTS: Before spinal cord stimulation, 66% of the patients had experienced myocardial infarction, 68% had three vessel disease, and in 24% the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was /= 71 years were independent predictors of mortality. During spinal cord stimulation, New York Heart Association functional class improved from 3.5 to 2.1 (p < 0.01); 25 of the deceased patients (24%) and 32 survivors (8%) experienced myocardial infarction; hospital admissions were significantly (p < 0.001) more common in the deceased group (66% v 37%). CONCLUSIONS: The clinical outcome of patients with intractable angina is not adversely affected by the chronic use of neurostimulation.

The effects of spinal cord stimulation on quality of life in patients with therapeutically chronic refractory angina pectoris.

Objective. For patients with refractory angina pectoris, spinal cord stimulation (SCS) is a beneficial and safe adjuvant therapy. However, it has not yet been established whether SCS alters the quality of life (QoL) in these patients. Methods. In this study, 26 consecutive patients (age 61.3 ± 7.0 years, 13 females, angina duration 12.7 ± 6.0 years) were recruited. Social, mental, and physical aspects of QoL were determined by Nottingham Health Profile (NHP I), depression scale (CES-D), scoring of angina pectoris attacks and short-acting nitroglycerine intake, pain score on the Visual Analog Scale (VAS), perceived health percentage, Satisfaction With Life scale (SWLS), and one-aspect Linear Analog Self Assessment scale (LASA). QoL outcomes at baseline were compared with reference values from healthy subjects. Within-group changes and magnitude of changes (effect size, ES) were assessed after 3 months and 1 year of SCS. Results. Compared to healthy subjects, the patients had significantly worse scores at baseline on NHP, SWLS, and LASA. After 3 months of SCS, NHP I aspect pain (ES = 1.39), AP-score (ES = 0.85), perceived health percentage (ES =- 0.80), NTG-use (ES = 1.08) and VAS-score (ES = 1.13) were all significantly improved (p < 0.05). After 3 months, moderate changes were observed; however, they were not statistically significant on the NHP-aspects "emotion" (ES = 0.57) and "sleep" (ES = 0.56). At the 1-year follow-up, significant and substantial improvements were found on NHP-I aspects: pain, energy, emotional reactions, social isolation, sleep, and physical mobility (p < 0.05) with changes that can be interpreted as large (ES > 0.80). Conclusion. QoL in patients with refractory angina pectoris is poor. Both pain and health aspects of QoL improved significantly after 3 months of SCS. Social, mental, and physical aspects of QoL were found improved after 1 year of SCS.