New medical technique treats chronic facial pain
CTV.ca News Staff
A new method for treating patients suffering from severe chronic facial pain is being introduced at select medical centres in Canada.
When traditional drugs or physical therapy fails in the treatement of chronic pain, considered consistent or intermittent pain that lasts six months or more, some doctors are turning to an experimental treatment known as motor cortex stimulation.
The treatment method, an electrical pain control system, places electrodes under the patient's skull over an area of the brain (motor cortex) that processes facial pain.
A wire is then threaded under the skin to a battery pack implanted in the patient's chest, allowing the pain to be shut off by sending electricity to the motor cortex.
The treatment has proven successful in about half of patients but doctors are unclear why it doesn't work for the other 50 per cent.
For Jen Dafoe, who suffered from a rare jaw disorder that required multiple surgeries, the resulting nerve damage was so severe that for two years she was often confined to her bedroom.
Not even surgery or heavy doses of narcotics could deaden her 'invisible' neuropathic pain.
"I couldn't work, I couldn't go to school, I couldn't do anything," Dafoe said.
As a result, London Health Sciences' Dr. Andre Parent successfully performed motor cortex stimulation on Dafoe.
"She appeared to be at her wit's end is a good way of putting it," Dr. Parent said.
Now, with 99 per cent of her pain gone, Dafoe relishes in the simple act of buying a bicycle.
"Just to ride and have the wind on my face would be a great feeling," Dafoe said as she shopped for a bicycle.
Dr. Parent tried to explain the complex procedure.
"Our presumption is that we are interfering with the way the brain perceives pain. But if it is jamming the signal or introducing another signal that overrides it ... isn't clear."
The surgery has been used in about two dozen Canadian cases after the patients -- suffering from facial pain caused by nerve damage or stroke -- failed all other methods of treatment.
Winnipeg Health Sciences Centre's Dr. Jerry Krcek said he is excited about the possibility of being able to cure 50 per cent of those treated.
"It makes all of us who do this work excited," Krcek said. "It gives us hope that we can help patients that we were unable to help before."
In Dafoe's case, she's not only pain free but she's also off all medications.
"Dr. Parent gave me my life back, allowing me to go back to school, to go back to work," Dafoe said through tears.
Doctors are launching a larger study to confirm the treatment's benefits and whether in time it may become an option for some of the millions of other Canadians who have had to deal with untreatable chronic pain. It will be the first randomized trial of the technique.
As the surgery requires the implantation of a foreign device into the body, there is a four per cent infection risk and the battery needs to be replaced every five to 10 years.
The technique can also be used for patients suffering from untreatable pain in their arms.
With a report from CTV's Avis Favaro.
Too bad it is only experimental and works on the face and not on the feet.