November Is Diabetes Awareness Month LEARN ABOUT AN INNOVATIVE OPTION FOR DIABETIC PATIENTS TO CONTROL DEBILATING PAIN

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November is National Diabetes Month, a time when communities across the country come together to raise awareness and discuss detection and management of this prevalent disease.

37.3 million Americans – about 1 in 10 – have diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.1 The chronic disease can take a severe toll on an individual’s quality of life, affecting their physical, mental, and emotional well-being.

Some people with diabetes also suffer from painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN), a deliberating and progressive neurological disorder that affects approximately 30% of the diabetes patient population.2 DPN can be caused when high blood sugar (glucose) damages nerves, most often in the legs and feet, leading to chronic numbness and burning or stabbing pain.

Dr. Silky Patel, an interventional spine, sports and pain management physician in Houston, will be available to discuss the impact of DPN and the latest innovative way to treat the condition. Ms. Farrah Stewart, a patient of Dr. Patel’s with painful DPN and a spinal cord stimulator, will join in the conversation to share her experience and the impact spinal cord stimulation has made in her life.

Conventional medical approaches, such as compression socks, topical creams, and prescription medications, do not always resolve DPN symptoms. But there is hope for these patients. Recently, spinal cord stimulation (SCS) has been FDA approved as a therapy for treatment of painful DPN of the lower extremities. A National Institutes of Health review finds that spinal cord stimulation for painful DPN is an effective and safe option for treatment.3

SCS is a proven long-term and effective therapy for managing chronic pain.4,5
• A spinal cord stimulator is an implantable medical device that works by disrupting the pain signals traveling between the spinal cord and the brain.
• Patients with DPN are 17 times more likely to experience significant pain relief if treated with SCS compared to conventional treatment.6,7,8
• 86% of patients experienced treatment success after receiving SCS therapy for one year.9
• SCS can offer proven long-term therapy for managing chronic pain, with the majority of patients experiencing meaningful pain relief through five years of treatment using the device.9
Interview is courtesy: Medtronic

1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Facts, Stats, and Impacts of Diabetes. https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/library/spotlights/diabetes-facts-stats.html
2. Sloan G, Alam, U, Selvarajah D, Tesfaye S. The Treatment of Painful Diabetic Neuropathy. Current Diabetes Reviews. July 2021
3. Henson JV, Varhabhatla NC, Bebic Z, Kaye AD, Yong RJ, Urman RD, Merkow JS. Spinal Cord Stimulation for Painful Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy: A Systematic Review. Pain Ther. 2021 Dec;10(2):895-908. doi: 10.1007/s40122-021-00282-9. Epub 2021 Jul 10. PMID: 34244979; PMCID: PMC8586096.
4. Kumar K, Taylor RS, Jacques L, et al. The effects of spinal cord stimulation in neuropathic pain are sustained: a 24-month follow-up of the prospective randomized controlled multicenter trial of the effectiveness of spinal cord stimulation. Neurosurgery. 2008;63(4):762-770. Discussion: 770.
5. Kemler MA, de Vet HC, Barendse GA, van den Wildenberg FA, van Kleef M. Effect of spinal cord stimulation for chronic complex regional pain syndrome type 1: five-year final follow-up of patients in a randomized controlled trial. J Neurosurg. 2008;108(2):292-298.
6. Medtronic. Medtronic Pain Therapy Clinical Summary M221494A016 Rev B. United States; 2022
7. de Vos CC, Meier K, Zaalberg PB, et al. Spinal cord stimulation in patients with painful diabetic neuropathy: a multicentre randomized clinical trial. Pain. 2014 Nov;155(11):2426-31.
8. Slangen R, Schaper N, Faber C, et al. Spinal Cord Stimulation and Pain Relief in Painful Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy: A Prospective Two-Center Randomized Controlled Trial. Diabetes Care. 2014;37:3016-3024.
9. Van Beek M, Geurts J, Slangen R, et al. Severity of Neuropathy Is Associated With Long-term Spinal Cord Stimulation Outcome in Painful Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy: Five-Year Follow-up of a Prospective Two-Center Clinical Trial. Diabetes Care. 2018;41:32–38.

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