Teleprogramming Service Provides Safe and Remote Stimulation Options for Patients with DRG-S and SCS Implants

Timothy R Deer; Michael F Esposito; Eric G Cornidez; Udoka Okaro; Marie E Fahey; Kenneth B Chapman

doi:10.2147/JPR.S332966

Teleprogramming Service Provides Safe and Remote Stimulation Options for Patients with DRG-S and SCS Implants

J Pain Res. 2021 Oct 14:14:3259-3265. doi: 10.2147/JPR.S332966. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Timothy R Deer¹, Michael F Esposito², Eric G Cornidez³, Udoka Okaro⁴, Marie E Fahey⁴, Kenneth B Chapman⁵

Affiliations

¹ Spine and Nerve Center of the Virginias, Charleston, WV, USA.
² Florida Pain Institute, Melbourne, FL, USA.
³ Pain Institute of Southern Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
⁴ Abbott, Austin, TX, USA.
⁵ The Spine Institute of New York, New York, NY, USA.

Abstract

Background: Chronic pain patients implanted with a neurostimulation device typically require follow-up and device programming visits to address changes in symptoms or treatment. Follow-up visits require access to specialty care and necessitate patients to take time off work, commute long distances, arrange for travel, and/or work with a caregiver's schedule. Telemedicine was adopted for some patient management as a result of the Sars-Cov-2 pandemic; however, remote optimization for neuromodulation still required an in-person visit to adjust device parameters. An FDA-approved digital platform enables remote programming of an implanted neuromodulation device using a real-time audio-video link from the clinical programmer to the patient controller. The Remote Optimization, Adjustment, and Measurement for Chronic Pain Therapy (ROAM-CPT) is a multi-center, prospective study that is currently underway to access the effectiveness of the teleprogramming system in fulfilling patients' clinical demands.

Methods: This pilot study surveyed 16 patients to determine the ability of the teleprogramming platform to provide a rapid solution safely and effectively for patient's chronic pain. Data were collected using a questionnaire that asked 6 clinician-centric questions and 5 patient-centric questions.

Results: 4/4 surveyed physicians were able to address patients' needs. 16/16 surveyed patients reported a quick resolution to pain and 15/16 did not require additional follow-up. Data curated from this pilot study show that the teleprogramming application greatly improves patient care, is preferred by both clinicians and patients with minimal disruptions to patients' everyday lives.

Conclusion: Teleprogramming provides real-time virtual programming capabilities and optimizes patients' therapy.

Perspective: This article describes remote device programming and analysis as an alternative to in-person programming/treatment sessions for neuromodulation patients. This remote option gives patients access to timely and clinically appropriate device management when in-person care may not be available.

Keywords: neuromodulation; neurosphere; remote DRG stimulation; remote SCS stimulation; virtual clinic.