Chronic pain is an experience that unfortunately many people experience and that affects their quality of life. In this regard, Parc Taulí implements treatments to alleviate or eradicate the chronic pain they live with.
Recently, the Pain Unit at Parc Taulí has consolidated its expertise with the implantation of two spinal cord neurostimulators and an implanted analgesia pump, consolidating itself as a reference unit in the Vallès Occidental.
However, the Pain Unit at Parc Taulí has been recognized with the level III+ distinction by the Catalan Health System. This is a milestone that positions the unit as a team that performs procedures and techniques of very high complexity and, at the same time, meets the established quality standards.
The neurostimulator is a device that is implanted in the lower abdomen and that, through electrical impulses, blocks the sensations of pain that reach the brain, thus relieving the discomfort of the patients. In the case of Parc Taulí, the neurostimulators were implanted in two men; one of them with chronic pain resulting from spinal surgery and the other from sciatic nerve release surgery.
“The implantation of the neurostimulator must be carefully studied, since it is implanted in patients who have not responded to any previous therapy”, explains Dr. Juan Vázquez, session head of the Pain Unit. In addition, the patient cannot present any social and psychological alterations, a feature that is supported by a multidisciplinary team based on psychological tests and an assessment of the family environment.
Likewise, the Pain Unit has gone a step further and has implanted an intrathecal infusion pump. This is a device that allows the targeted and localized administration of a drug. "This therapy is used as a last resort in those patients with oncological or non-oncological pain who have not responded to other treatments, including neurostimulation," says Dr. Vázquez. In the case of Parc Taulí, the pump was implanted in a patient with spasticity secondary to refractory multiple sclerosis.
These milestones come four months after performing the first epiduroscopy on a 42-year-old patient with post-surgical adhesions who suffered from acute chronic pain refractory to all treatments. In fact, it is a technique that places the Pain Unit as one of the most pioneering units in healthcare centers in Catalonia.
The hospital's Pain Unit treats around 3.092 patients annually and it is estimated that around 20 people will benefit from the implementation of the new techniques.
