Neuromodulation for Adjunctive Treatment in Postmastectomy Pain Syndrome

Authors

Kennedy Kirkpatrick
Jay D Shah
Krishna Shah

Publication Date

10-1-2023

Journal

Cureus

DOI

10.7759/cureus.47827

PMID

38021503

PMCID

PMC10676758

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

10-27-2023

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Post-print

Published Open-Access

yes

Keywords

postmastectomy pain syndrome, dorsal root ganglion, neuromodulation, spinal cord stimulator, post mastectomy pain syndrome, pmps

Abstract

Postmastectomy pain syndrome (PMPS) affects nearly half of patients who undergo mastectomy to treat breast cancer. As the survival rate of breast cancer increases with advancements in treatment, the incidence of PMPS is also increasing. Patients with PMPS can experience unrelenting, chronic pain refractory to traditional management with oral pharmacotherapy in conjunction with nonpharmacologic treatment (physical therapy, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS)). Neuromodulation is an emerging treatment modality for numerous chronic pain conditions. This case report highlights the tremendous success of spinal cord stimulator placement for a patient with PMPS.