Chronic pain patients’ lives restored with new medtech

MedTech News: Chronic pain is a major public health concern globally. In Australia, 20% of general practitioner consultations involve chronic pain, and medications are used in approximately 70% of chronic pain management consultations.

Saluda Medical, the market leader in the development of closed-loop spinal cord stimulation (SCS) for the treatment of chronic pain, announced the publication of its 24-month results from the Avalon Study in Pain Practice, the official journal of the World Institute of Pain. SCS is a non-pharmacological approach for chronic pain and has the advantage of being highly localised, reversible, and with a limited side effect profile.

The study is the world’s first multicentre SCS study to demonstrate these levels of profound pain relief scores and functional outcome measures at 24 months highlighting the restorative benefits for patients implanted with Saluda’s proprietary Evoke Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS) System which is TGA approved and on the Prosthesis List.

“The 24-month data from the Avalon Study continues to highlight the Evoke Closed-Loop System’s ability to restore patients’ lives,” said Dr. Charles Brooker, Director of the Pain Management and Research Centre, Royal North Shore Hospital, and lead author on the 24-month publication.

“The investigators’ and patients’ experience suggests Saluda’s closed-loop technology could be an alternative or replacement to opioids in chronic back and leg pain patients. I feel the profound pain relief and functional, quality of life, and sleep improvements demonstrated indicate Evoke has become one of the most important tools in our armamentarium to treat chronic pain.”   

At 24 months, responder rates (≥50% pain reduction) and high responder rates (≥80% pain reduction) for overall pain were 89.5% and 68.4% respectively, which demonstrated continuous improvement over time from 3-month and 12-month responder and high responder rates.

More than 80% of patients experienced a minimally important difference in QOL, and >50% experienced a clinically significant improvement in sleep, while 82.8% of patients with baseline opioid use eliminated or reduced their opioid intake with 41.4% eliminating opioid use altogether.

The Avalon Study patients implanted with the Evoke system started with a higher baseline pain score and saw a greater percentage reduction in pain with a lower reported pain score at 24 months compared to Nevro’s Senza SCS.

Saluda Medical told Health Industry Hub that the company is keen to increase awareness about the Evoke System among GPs who manage a significant number of chronic pain patients. The company is working closely with interventional pain physicians and their staff to educate everyone involved in the treatment of chronic pain by way of medical education, public relations, and digital activities.

“Our mission is to transform the lives of patients living with chronic neuropathic pain by equipping our therapy with the most advanced measurement and response technology. We believe this will translate into breaking down barriers due to cost, service burden, and invasiveness thus ensuring broad patient access,” said Jim Schuermann, CEO of Saluda Medical.