Allen Dennis, MD, MS, and John Gavurnik
Post-tumor pain is very common because you are treating limb pain that no longer exists, which can be a chronic pain that is difficult to control. When the limb is amputated, the cut peripheral nerves can continue to produce additional impulses to the spinal cord. In addition to the challenges of managing limb losses, this creates “phantom” pain that can debilitate and undermine the “normal” quality of life.
At APC, we consider phantom limb pain as a unique disease process that deserves caution. Our patients with this pain are usually military, patients with infections, cancer and other chronic diseases. Unfortunately, the use of pain management techniques such as medications, physical therapy and other standard treatments makes it difficult to control this pain because it is a special case where we are treating pain from something that does not exist in nature.
Therefore, we developed a treatment plan that talks about the language of the spinal cord, which is electrical. In John’s case, rather, our use of spinal cord stimulators greatly relieved his chronic pain and significantly improved his quality of life.
John’s Story
John Gavurnik’s daughter went to a pain clinic. He knew of an advanced pain clinic in Georgetown, but he was not referred there to manage the pain during the surgery until after trauma of an amputation from his left leg. Moving down from his pelvis to his feet, his entire leg was removed. His right leg was also painful from sciatica.
He was immediately advised to receive a spinal cord stimulator, which is essentially a small pacemaker implanted into the spine below the skin (usually at the base of the spine). A spinal cord stimulator consists of wires or electrodes that can turn on and off certain nerves, especially to emit more nerves to the spinal cord. These electrodes are placed through the needle in the spine posterior to the spine. A spinal cord stimulator is accompanied by a remote control, which can regulate electrical impulses to the target nerve.
Initially, John performed a five to seven-day test with the trial stimulator to see if this is an effective treatment. After that, he became steadily relieved. Typically, the trial is to see if the spinal cord stimulator provides at least 50% relief. In John’s case, the test was successful and a more permanent spinal cord stimulator was implanted.
Typically, with spinal cord stimulators, we tell patients that they will continue to feel 50% relief. In John’s case, he found 85% to 90% relief. He also said that the spinal cord stimulator also relieves the pain of sciatica in the right leg. He said that in his case, he hadn’t really felt his phantom pain for a while, and that the spinal cord stimulator is easy to use, and the devices, remote controls and power chargers accompanying it have been very much in his daily life It’s easy to adapt.
He found the staff very helpful, and he said that if he chose to repeat the history, he would get the spinal cord stimulator again due to the relief he experienced. He said everyone was polite and showed real attention to helping him restore his quality of life. He also thought everyone was very useful and explained the process and process of recovery.
Why choose APC
In Phantom Limb Disease, this is a challenge because patients find it difficult to perform the most basic daily activities, such as dressing or bathing. This can lead to emotional and mental health problems in patients and limited or limited quality of life. We found solutions that help our patients recover from their previous lives of pain, so they can move again and improve internal well-being.
We have other solutions, such as nerve blockers or drugs, but in most cases, relief may not reach the level John experienced. Therefore, we chose to adopt neuromodulation technology.
Working with John was very successful and we were glad that most of his pain was relieved by spinal cord stimulators. We just recently saw him back in another case and he continues to feel better, has gained a lot of motivation and is returning to his daily activities.
All L. Dennis
Allen L. Dennis is a board-certified pain management and anesthesiologist based in Austin, Texas. Dr. Dennis graduated from the University of Texas Medical Branch School of Medicine in Galveston, Texas in June 2005.
