Managing chronic neuropathic pain through spinal cord stimulation
Brown Invents
Vikas Srivastava
Vikas Srivastava, assistant professor of engineering, and team member Albert Telfeian, MD, professor of neurosurgery, will develop a novel implantable lead for a spinal cord electrical stimulation device to manage chronic neuropathic pain. The lead will be made of nitinol, a material capable of shape memory that can be inserted with a needle. Once placed in the epidural space, it will expand to the correct shape. The advantage would be to achieve better contacts than can be achieved with a cylindrical lead while avoiding the surgery required for a larger paddle lead.
Fluoroscopic images from the cadaver trial (lead is highlighted in red in the images on the right). The images on the top show percutaneous minimally invasive lead insertion through a 2 mm-diameter hole. The images at the bottom show the shape memory alloy-based lead taking a desired zig-zag shape in the epidural space under body temperature actuation.
In steps 1 and 2, a percutaneous insertion into the epidural space takes place. In steps 3 and 4, the shape memory alloy lead reverts to new shapes that optimize electrode coverage.
