HOUSTON – For Donald MacDougall, conquering his years of chronic back pain is just days away.
A device implanted in his spine 10 days ago is being turned on for the first time, but it will still be a few days before it begins to combat his chronic back pain.
"I used to golf and swim and play tennis and all that, and I play a piano. I can't do any of that anymore," MacDougall said.
But the new device promises to change all of that. On the surface, it looks like a traditional implant or stimulator, where the patient feels a tingling sensation in all the areas they're having pain.
MacDougall tried that once.
"It was very annoying. There was a vibration sensation and it didn't help the back at all. I was very disappointed with that," he said.
Then MacDougall learned about the new implanted stimulator. Dr. Alexios Carayannopoulos calls it a breakthrough.
"It changes the way you perceive pain in the brain," Carayannopolous said. "This latest technology is a different frequency, a much higher frequency that patients can't feel as well, so they don't have the paresthesia or the tingling sensation that some patients find to be somewhat bothersome."
MacDougall tested the device for seven days before it was permanently implanted.
"The back pain was definitely much better. It was more than 50 percent better," MacDougall said.
So, how does it work? Carayannopoulos explains.
"So we would actually put the device in through needles, down here. It gets threaded up to the middle part of the back on this particular patient, and it's laying directly over the spinal cord to stimulate the fibers of the cord."
Instead of tingling, all the patient feels is relief. The battery implanted in the buttock generally lasts 10 years and patients receive a remote control.
"They can turn it on. They can turn it off. They can change the parameters," Carayannopoulos said.
MacDougall is just looking forward to pain relief.
"The hope is (to) get off all my medication. Get back to my normal life," MacDougall said.
The device is made by Nevro. The company helps patients with the pre-authorization and claims reimbursement process.