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Syosset Hospital
is the first medical
facility in New York
State to offer magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI)compatible spinal cord
stimulation.
TECHNOLOGY FOR PAIN RELIEF
TINA DIGIOVANNI'S BACK pain was so severe that she
couldn't work the better part of a year. It was difficult for
her to stand up straight, let alone for long periods of time.
Because of that, she didn't take her six-year-old son to any
theme parks or on a vacation this summer. However, now
that she has an MRI-compatible spinal cord stimulator
(SCS), her pain is virtually gone. She has returned to her
everyday activities, including work, and she can more
easily take care of her son.
The stimulator is a device designed to help alleviate
patients' chronic pain, defined as pain lasting more than
three months that can be disabling. Implanted under a
patient's skin, the SCS sends out mild electrical impulses
to a person's spinal cord. The impulses prevent any limbrelated pain signals from reaching the patient's brain. In
lieu of pain, a patient feels a tingling sensation.
The SCS was first created by Medtronic in the 1980s,
and since then about 250,000 people across the globe
have benefitted from the device. The new version of the
SCS especially benefits patients who experience chronic
pain in addition to other health concerns, such as multiple
sclerosis. With the earlier-model device, a patient in that
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situation would have needed to have the implant surgically
removed before undergoing an MRI due to concern that
the equipment's magnetic fields would interfere with the
stimulator.
John Stamatos, MD, director of interventional pain
management at Syosset Hospital, performed the first
procedure in New York State with the MRI-compatible
SCS in August.
"People who
have had back
surgeries or who
have chronic
illnesses can
now have the
pain relief they
need without
worrying about
the possibility
of not getting
these required
tests," Dr. Stamatos
said.
TO FIND A COMMUNITY PHYSICIAN NEAR YOU, CALL 1-888-321-DOCS.
