13 avril 2023
A remote neurostimulation was carried out last March at the Foch hospital, in Suresnes, to soothe the pain of patients operated on the spine.
The first remote programming of a neurostimulator in France took place at the Pain Treatment and Assessment Center of the Foch Hospital in Suresnes (Hauts-de-Seine). Neurostimulation is an act practiced in the world for fifty years, in the management of neuropathic pain in patients ” operated on the cervical, lumbar spine, etc. but for whom surgery was not enough to relieve the pain “, explains Dr. Naoufel Ouerchefani, neurosurgeon at Foch Hospital.
This technique works thanks to the implantation of “an electrode, connected to a battery placed under the skin, behind the spinal cord. This electrode will send an electric current to mask the pain “. If, until now, the follow-up of the patients was done exclusively in the hospital in order to optimize the setting of the stimulation, it is now technically possible to carry out the therapy remotely.
Electrodes connected remotely
Comment ? “Via a teleconsultation system called Neurosphere “. Thanks to this system, doctors connect remotely with the patient, and offer him “adjustment and treatment without it moving”. This approach will to improve the follow-up and treatment of patients suffering from chronic diseases, by avoiding constraining and repetitive travel “. A project on the initiative of Dr Ouerchefani, following the care of a patient forced to go back and forth between home and hospital.
Patients, whose neuropathic pain will be treated with this innovative method, will simply have to go to the hospital ” every three months initially, then every six months the second year, and finally once a year, to optimize the adjustment of the electrode “. After an internal test phase, the Foch hospital intends to eventually deploy this device to other patients in order to facilitate access to care for all.
Objective : “to allow better management of chronic pain ‘without borders’, whether in France (to combat the problems of medical deserts), for patients from overseas, or for foreign patients who do not have this technique in their country”hopes the neurosurgeon.
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Source : Foch Hospital, March 3, 2023
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Written by : Laura Bourgault – Edited by: Emmanuel Ducreuzet
