United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Is anyone familiar with this or tried it for pain? I have been in contact iwth a lady in AZ whos husband (tbpi)is interested and just gotten the go ahead from insurance. Can anyone help me out here?? http://www.medtronic.com/neuro/ttp/trea ... maker.html

Thanks!!

Courtney

Hi Court
Well, from the research I've done into this, it's not been found effective in cases where there is avulsion pain, and it's not been found effective long term in many things at all. The risks of spinal surgery are quite extensive and there are side effects to consider, which include infection, scar tissue, breakage of the electrodes and hardware, leakage of spinal fluid, tolerance to the stimulation resulting in less effective relief, bladder dysfunction, bleeding and hematoma formation, and allergic reactions. As ever, I don't see these prominently displayed on the maker's website. Doctors who specialise in tbpi do not tend to favour these things, does this guys doctor know much about tbpi??

If these risks sound bad, that's probably because these devices were orinally developed for patients with terminal conditions, where the risks were considered worth the benefits-these devices are definitely last resort material. So, if the patient has had the bpi under 2/3 years (bearing in mind a high percentage of tbpi report they can deal with the pain after that timescale)and has avulsions, I would not say it would be a wise move. Just my opinion based on fairly extensive research of independent sources. Sorry not to be more encouraging.

If anyone reading this has avulsions and has had relief from one of these long term, please post here. I've asked this question before but nobody has ever answered in the affirmative. Yet!
Cheers all :0) Jen NZ

Me, Polly, again. My hubby has had the aforementioned injury and resulting pain for over 5 years, and it only gets worse. He currently takes Methadone, Neurontin and Fentanyl to help alleviate the pain, but as you can imagine, it is tearing his stomach apart, and he is sick almost every day, with minimal pain relief. We absolutely have to find some way to help him, as every time he has a pain, I think he is going to have a stroke or heart attack too. No conventional medication has helped him all that much, including pain blocks and shots. Thank you for your reply!