An Unexpected Improvement of the Symptom from Herniated Intervertebral Disc during Trial of Spinal Cord Stimulation for the Post-herpetic Neuralgia -A case report-

대상포진 후 신경통에 시행된 실험적 척수자극술시 예측치 못한 추간판 탈출증 증상의 개선 -증례 보고-

In controlling chronic intractable pains, the current therapeutic methods used are exercise, over the counter medication, cognitive-behavioral therapy, opioid medication, neural blockade, operation, etc., spinal cord stimulation being the last resort. Spinal cord stimulation was initiated when Shearly and others clinically tested the Gate control theory of Melzack and Wall. This had triggered the advancement of theoretic research on the mechanism and hardware necessary and has resulted in an accumulation of clinical experiences. This is known to be effective for treating sympathetic pain, arachnoiditis, failed back pain syndrome, radiculopathy, peripheral vascular disease, phantom limb syndrome, post-herpetic neuralgia, peripheral neuropathy, and angina pectoris. This report describes our experience in experimental spinal cord stimulation in patients with simultaneous post-herpetic neuralgia and herniated intervertebral disc. There wasn't any improvement in the post-herpetic neuralgia but the symptoms of a herniated intervertebral disc was much ameliorated. This was quite an unexpected result. The patient's back pain returned when the stimulation stopped.