Experience with dorsal column stimulation for relief of chronic intractable pain: 1968-1973

Dorsal column stimulators (DCS) have been implanted in 130 patients with various chronic pain syndromes at the University of California, San Francisco, between 1969 and 1973. Preoperative psychiatric evaluation and percutaneous dorsal column stimulation testing were of value in rejecting those patients most likely to have unsatisfactory long-term results with DCS. Best results occurred in patients with phantom limb or peripheral nerve pain and worst results in patients with paraplegic pain, documented arachnoiditis, pancreatitis and arthritis. The need is stressed for careful preoperative selection and for close, prolonged postoperative care in a situation permitting access to multidisciplinary facilities for patient care.