Feasibility Study for Intrathoracic Nerve Stimulation

Despite minimally invasive techniques in thoracic surgery, postoperative pain can still be an issue for patients. Achieving adequate pain control not only affects a patient's short and long term quality of life but is also extremely important in preventing post-operative complications. Pain hinders with ambulating earlier and in performing pulmonary toilet hence increasing the risk of ensuing complications. While surgeons use multimodal approaches (e.g., epidural, regional anesthesia, NSAIDs, and opioids) to treat the postoperative pain, patients may not find relief in the acute period. Additionally, the use of opioids in the postoperative period can lead to chronic dependence and misuse. According to the Center for Disease Control, nearly 25% of patients chronically dependent on opioids started taking narcotics after they underwent a surgical procedure. Every day more than 115 people a day die from narcotics, and costing the United States $78.5 billion dollars a year. To prevent the need for opioids and their associated side effects, we look beyond medications for postoperative pain control. The field of neuromodulation has been studying the effects of magnetic field and electrical current stimulation of different areas of the body to treat pain. While this has been shown to be effective for complex regional pain syndrome, low back pain, migraines and post herpetic neuralgia, there have not been studies applying the same concept to patients in the acute postoperative period. The goal is to apply the same concept of peripheral nerve stimulation to treat post thoracic surgery pain and decrease the need for opioids for pain relief. The purpose of this investigational device exemption is to study the efficacy of peripheral nerve stimulation in treating post thoracic surgery pain and the safety of using these stimulation leads in the thoracic cavity.