New neurostimulation system is a non-opioid alternative for chronic pain and offers personalised pain relief and advanced activity tracking
Medtronic has received CE Mark for its Intellis platform which can be used for Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS) and Peripheral Nerve Stimulation (PNS) as a pain management aid for some types of chronic pain.
According to Medtronic, the Intellis is the world's smallest fully implantable SCS neurostimulator. It is designed to simplify and improves the patient experience and is now available in Europe and the United States.
One in five adults in Western Europe suffers from chronic pain, a devastating condition with a costly personal and societal impact.
Chronic pain can negatively impact all aspects of a person's life - relationships, work productivity and activities of daily living.
Medtronic says that published studies have shown that when used by carefully selected patients with chronic pain, SCS may provide effective long-term pain relief, improved quality of life and pain-related disability, and may reduce the need for pain medications.
Similarly, PNS may also provide back pain relief, improvement in back pain-related disability, and reduce the need for pain medications. The potential benefits of neurostimulation are critical given the public health issue of prescription pain medication abuse.
Earlier intervention with SCS has been shown to improve treatment outcomes and SCS is widely reimbursed and recommended by European governments. Current European guidelines support the use of SCS; failed back surgery syndrome is the primary indication recommended by European governments.
The first European patient received the Intellis system at AZ Nikolaas Hospital’s Pain Clinic, Belgium, performed by Dr. Iris Smet.
"Chronic pain is a complex disease that is challenging to manage. The innovations behind the Intellis platform translate into meaningful patient benefits and ease of use for physicians, which represent important advantages over other neurostimulators," said Dr. Smet
"I want to restore my patient's health and improve their quality of life; the innovation behind the Intellis platform allows me to achieve that and help a broad range of patients."
The Intellis platform can help optimize treatment and improve patient-physician communication by tracking and sharing daily activities, body positions and therapy usage and giving physicians an objective look at mobility and progress.
"Medtronic's goal is to simplify treatment and improve the patient experience with personalized therapy that provides long-term pain relief and helps restore function," said Marshall Stanton, senior vice president and president of Medtronic's Pain Therapies division.
"The launch of the Intellis platform is the culmination of 40 years of innovation and what makes Intellis such an important option is that it integrates leading-edge hardware with the Evolve workflow for SCS to help optimise pain relief."