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A Complication of Dorsal Column Stimulation for the Relief of Pain

Arthur Taub, MD, PhD; William F. Collins, MD; Joan Venes, MD

Arch Neurol. 1974;30(1):107-108.

Abstract
In a patient with chronic pain in the back and lower extremities resulting from adhesive arachnoiditis and radiculopathy, electrical stimulation of the spinal cord by electrodes implanted between the leaves of the dura at T6-7, posterior to the dorsal columns in the midline, produced no relief of pain. However, stimulation evoked cramping pain, fasciculations, and muscle spasms in the lower extremities, as well as a partial and reversible functional transection of the spinal cord at the T-10 segment. These changes subsided when the stimulus was removed with a rate of disappearance related to the duration of stimulation.

Author Affiliations
New Haven, Conn

From the Section of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn.

Footnotes
Accepted for publication April 5, 1973.

Reprint requests to Section of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, Yale University School of Medicine, 789 Howard Ave, New Haven, CT 06510 (Dr. Taub).

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