Motor cortex stimulation for post-stroke pain: comparison of spinal cord and thalamic stimulation

We analyzed the effects of spinal cord stimulation (SCS), deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the thalamic nucleus ventralis caudalis (VC) and motor cortex stimulation (MCS) in 45 patients with post-stroke pain. Satisfactory pain control was obtained more frequently as the stimulation site was moved to higher levels (7% by SCS, 25% by DBS and 48% by MCS). A painful sensation was sometimes produced by stimulation of the VC as well as the post-central, pre-central and pre-frontal cortices. Such a sensation occurred less frequently as the stimulation site was moved to higher levels (50% at the VC, 39% at the post-central cortex, 6% at the pre-central cortex and 3% at the pre-frontal cortex). These findings imply that abnormal processing of nociceptive information develops at the level of deafferentation and spreads to higher levels to a varying extent. This may be one of the reasons why satisfactory pain control was obtained more frequently as the stimulation site was moved to higher levels.