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Updated: Oct 25, 2025
Treating Low Back Pain in Failed Back Surgery Patients with Multicolumn-lead Spinal Cord Stimulation
Published on: June 26, 2018
Spinal Cord Stimulation via Percutaneous and Open Implantation: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Examining
Amy Z Blackburn1, Hunter H Chang2, Kevin DiSilvestro3
1Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA.
Background:
Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) has become a successful therapeutic option for combating chronic pain and can be implanted via percutaneous or open (laminotomy/laminectomy) techniques. This study aimed to systematically review the complications that occur after SCS placement via percutaneous and open (laminotomy/laminectomy) in failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS), complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), and chronic back (lumbosacral)/leg pain.
Methods:
The PubMed and Embase databases were searched from inception to June 2020; prospective studies using SCS in patients with FBSS, CRPS, and chronic low back pain that reported both complications and the implantation method used were included. Effects and results from each study were combined using a random-effects model and were structured for subgroup analysis between open implantation and percutaneous implantation. Meta-regression was performed by calculating a mean difference and weighted by inverse variance and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).
Results:
Thirty-two articles were included in this systematic review and meta-analysis. Using several different patient- and event-based metrics, our meta-analysis revealed an overall average complication rate of 21.1% (95% CI, 14.9-27.2). Equipment, technical, and medical complications occurred at rates of 12.1%, 1.1%, and 6.3%, respectively. Lead migration and infection rates were 5.6% and 3.8%, respectively. When comparing the 2 implant techniques, medical-related surgical reinterventions and explants due to infection were more common in open compared with percutaneous SCS procedures.
Conclusions:
Equipment-related complications accounted for the majority of SCS complications. Percutaneous SCS resulted in less reintervention and fewer explants caused by medical-related complications and infection, respectively. These conclusions may provide a general understanding of the SCS complications profile for physicians who care for SCS patients.
