Significance of the spinal cord position in spinal cord stimulation

The effects of the antero-posterior and medio-lateral positions of the spinal cord in the dural sac on the perception threshold and paresthesia coverage in spinal cord stimulation were analyzed. The distributions of the dorsal cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) layer thickness, measured from transverse MR scans of normal subjects at various spinal levels, were used to calculate the distributions of threshold voltages for the stimulation of spinal nerve fibers by a computer model. These theoretical threshold distributions were shown to fit well to the corresponding distributions of perception threshold measured in patients. It is concluded that the thickness of the dorsal csf layer is the main factor determining the perception threshold and paresthesia coverage in spinal cord stimulation: an increasing thickness raises the threshold and reduces the coverage, and vice versa. The effects of an asymmetrical electrode position with respect to the spinal cord midline were also analyzed by computer modeling. It is concluded that a lateral asymmetry of less than 1 mm gives a significant reduction of perception threshold and may result in unilateral paresthesiae.