New hope for patients with intractable pain

  Recently, the pain department of Jiaxing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine successfully performed the implantation of an intradural infusion system for a patient who had been suffering from intractable and severe pain for more than 2 years and had been transferred to many hospitals. After nearly 3 months of treatment, the patient’s pain was well controlled and the infusion system has now been surgically removed and the patient is being treated with a small amount of oral medication on an outpatient basis. The development of this new technology brings new hope to those patients with intractable severe pain for whom conservative treatments such as medication, physical and psychological treatments have failed.  Cai old man, from Tongxiang, sixty-five years old, full of children and grandchildren, should have enjoyed the life of the world, but 2 years ago, the left back of the back of the back of the needle-like, lightning-like severe pain, and a series of red blisters, in the local hospital diagnosed as “herpes zoster”. This is commonly known as “snake wrap” in Jiaxing. The herpes on the skin healed after appropriate treatment, but then the pain became unbearable and could not be controlled with analgesic drugs.  One year ago, he underwent “CT-guided radiofrequency thermal coagulation of the dorsal root ganglion of the spinal nerve” in a foreign hospital, and the symptoms were relieved less than one year after the operation. His family went around looking for a remedy to relieve his pain. Finally, they found our pain department hoping to have a new method of combining Chinese and Western medicine. In view of his special condition, Dr. Zhu Bo, chief physician of the pain department, together with other physicians in the department, carefully studied and repeatedly discussed, and after experimental treatment, suggested that Mr. Cai receive the new technology of intraspinal buried infusion system for intractable pain.  Because the medication directly reaches the central nervous system after surgery, this can achieve satisfactory analgesic effect with a very small amount of analgesic medication, and the pain control can prompt the body to recover and break the vicious cycle of pain. After detailed and patient explanation by Director Zhu, Cai and his family gladly accepted the treatment plan. In June, they were hospitalized in our pain department for a 2-hour operation, and a German buried infusion system was placed in the spinal canal under local anesthesia, and analgesic drugs were continuously injected after the operation. The pain department also used a combination of Chinese and Western medicine to treat the affected areas of the lower back with external Chinese medicine and transdermal acupuncture, and Cai’s pain was well controlled and his appetite and sleep improved significantly.  After nearly 3 months of treatment, the pain in the herpes area of the left lumbar abdominal wall basically disappeared, his weight increased and his face became rosy, so he was readmitted to the hospital and the buried infusion system was removed. Both he and his family were satisfied.  According to Chief Physician Zhu Bo, in China, this procedure has only been gradually carried out in recent years and is mainly used for advanced refractory cancer pain. The so-called intradural buried infusion system is a catheter of about 1 mm in diameter implanted under the skin, with one end leading to the spinal epidural cavity and the other end connected to a drug delivery pump buried under the skin, through which the drug is fed into the spinal epidural.  Compared with traditional analgesic methods, the amount of drugs used in the implantable epidural infusion system is very small (only a few tens to a few hundredths of the traditional drug delivery methods), but its analgesic effect is very strong, with few side effects, and the patient can walk freely after treatment, and daily life such as eating and living is not affected. The method is very traumatic and can be done under local anesthesia. Patients can go home after 1 week after the operation and can take care of their daily life completely. Outpatient follow-up treatment is available in 7-10 days. The pain department of Jiaxing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine combines the unique external application of traditional Chinese medicine and electro-acupuncture treatment for refractory postherpetic neuralgia to quickly achieve the goal of pain-free and comfortable treatment, bringing a new approach for patients suffering from intractable pain.