A Retrospective Study on Patient-Specific Predictors for Non-Response to Sacroiliac Joint Injections.

Intra-articular or peri-articular corticosteroid injections are often used for treatment of sacroiliac joint (SIJ) pain. However, response to these injections is variable and many patients require multiple injections for sustained benefit. In this study, we aim to identify patient-specific predictors of response or non-response to SIJ injections. Identification of these predictors would allow providers to better determine what treatment would be appropriate for a patient with SIJ pain. A retrospective review of 100 consecutive patient charts spanning a 2-year period at an academic multi-specialty pain center was conducted and a multivariate regression analysis was used to identify patient-specific predictors of response to SIJ injections. Our analysis identified that a history of depression and anxiety (OR: 0.233, 95%CI: 0.057-0.954) and increased age (OR: 0.946, 95%CI: 0.910-0.984) significantly reduced the odds of responding to injections. We also found that the associated NPRS score change for SIJ injection responders was less than the minimally clinically significant value of a 2-point differential, suggesting that reported changes in pain scores may not accurately represent a patient's perception of success after SIJ injection. These findings warrant further investigation through a prospective study and can potentially influence clinical decision making and prognosis for patients receiving SIJ injections.

A Real-World Analysis of High-Frequency 10 kHz Spinal Cord Stimulation for the Treatment of Painful Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy.

BACKGROUND: Diabetes is one of the most prevalent chronic health conditions and diabetic neuropathy one of its most prevalent and debilitating complications. While there are treatments available for painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy (pDPN), their effectiveness is limited. METHOD: This retrospective, multi-center, real-world review assessed pain relief and functional improvements for consecutive patients with diabetic neuropathy aged ≥18 years of age who were permanently implanted with a high-frequency (10 kHz) spinal cord stimulation (SCS) device. Available data were extracted from a commercial database. RESULTS: In total 89 patients consented to being included in the analysis. Sixty-one percent (54/89) of participants were male and the average age was 64.4 years (SD = 9.1). Most patients (78.7%, 70/89) identified pain primarily in their feet or legs bilaterally. At the last assessment, 79.5% (58/73) of patients were treatment responders, defined as having at least 50% patient-reported pain relief from baseline. The average time of follow-up was 21.8 months (range: 4.3 to 46.3 months). A majority of patients reported improvements in sleep and overall function relative to their baseline. CONCLUSIONS: This real-world study in typical clinical practices found 10 kHz SCS provided meaningful pain relief for a substantial proportion of patients refractory to current pDPN management, similar to published literature. This patient population has tremendous unmet needs and this study helps demonstrate the potential for 10 kHz SCS to provide an alternative pain management approach.

Strategies to Identify Mesenchymal Stromal Cells in Minimally Manipulated Human Bone Marrow Aspirate Concentrate Lack Consensus.

BACKGROUND: There is a need to identify and quantify mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) in human bone marrow aspirate concentrate (BMAC) source tissues, but current methods to do so were established in cultured cell populations. Given that surface marker and gene expression change in cultured cells, it is doubtful that these strategies are valid to quantify MSCs in fresh BMAC. PURPOSE: To establish the presence, quantity, and heterogeneity of BMAC-derived MSCs in minimally manipulated BMAC using currently available strategies. STUDY DESIGN: Descriptive laboratory study. METHODS: Five published strategies to identify MSCs were compared for suitability and efficiency to quantify clinical-grade BMAC-MSCs and cultured MSCs at the single cell transcriptome level on BMAC samples being used clinically from 15 orthopaedic patients and on 1 cultured MSC sample. Strategies included (1) the guidelines by the International Society for Cellular Therapy (ISCT), (2) CD271 expression, (3) the Ghazanfari et al transcriptional profile, (4) the Jia et al transcriptional profile, and (5) the Silva et al transcriptional profile. RESULTS: ISCT guidelines did not identify any MSCs in BMAC at the transcriptional level and only 1 in 9 million cells at the protein level. Of 12,850 BMAC cells, 9 expressed the CD271 gene. Only 116 of 396 Ghazanfari genes were detected in BMAC, whereas no cells expressed all of them. No cells expressed all Jia genes, but 25 cells expressed at least 13 of 22. No cells expressed all Silva genes, but 19 cells expressed at least 8 of 23. Most importantly, the liberalized strategies tended to identify different cells and most of them clustered with immune cells. CONCLUSION: Currently available methods need to be liberalized to identify any MSCs in fresh human BMAC and lack consensus at the single cell transcriptome and protein expression levels. These different cells should be isolated and challenged to establish phenotypic differences. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: This study demonstrated that improved strategies to quantify MSC concentrations in BMAC for clinical applications are urgently needed. Until then, injected minimally manipulated MSC doses should be reported as rough estimates or as unknown.

Novel High-Frequency Peripheral Nerve Stimulator Treatment of Refractory Postherpetic Neuralgia: A Brief Technical Note.

OBJECTIVES: The study aims to describe an ultrasound (US)-guided peripheral nerve stimulation implant technique and describe the effect of high-frequency peripheral nerve stimulation on refractory postherpetic neuralgia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Following a cadaver pilot trial using US and confirmatory fluoroscopic guidance, a 52-year-old man with refractory left supraorbital neuralgia underwent combined US and fluoroscopic-guided supraorbital peripheral nerve stimulator trial. The patient was subsequently implanted with a percutaneous lead over the left supraorbital and supratrochlear nerve utilizing a high-frequency stimulation paradigm. RESULTS: At 9 months follow-up, the pain intensity had declined from a weekly average of 8/10 to 1/10 on the pain visual analog scale (VAS). After implant, both nerve conduction and blink reflex studies were performed, which demonstrated herpetic nerve damage and frequency-specific peripheral nerve stimulation effects. The patient preferred analgesia in the supraorbital nerve distribution accomplished with high-frequency paresthesia-free stimulation (HFS) at an amplitude of 6.2 mA, a frequency of 100-1200 Hz, and a pulse width of 130 µsec, to paresthesia-mediated pain relief associated with low-frequency stimulation. CONCLUSION: We report the implant of a supraorbital peripheral nerve stimulating electrode that utilizes a high-frequency program resulting in sustained suppression of intractable postherpetic neuralgia.

Low-density lipoprotein electronegativity is a novel cardiometabolic risk factor.

BACKGROUND: Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) plays a central role in cardiovascular disease (CVD) development. In LDL chromatographically resolved according to charge, the most electronegative subfraction-L5-is the only subfraction that induces atherogenic responses in cultured vascular cells. Furthermore, increasing evidence has shown that plasma L5 levels are elevated in individuals with high cardiovascular risk. We hypothesized that LDL electronegativity is a novel index for predicting CVD. METHODS: In 30 asymptomatic individuals with metabolic syndrome (MetS) and 27 healthy control subjects, we examined correlations between plasma L5 levels and the number of MetS criteria fulfilled, CVD risk factors, and CVD risk according to the Framingham risk score. RESULTS: L5 levels were significantly higher in MetS subjects than in control subjects (21.9±18.7 mg/dL vs. 11.2±10.7 mg/dL, P:0.01). The Jonckheere trend test revealed that the percent L5 of total LDL (L5%) and L5 concentration increased with the number of MetS criteria (P<0.001). L5% correlated with classic CVD risk factors, including waist circumference, body mass index, waist-to-height ratio, smoking status, blood pressure, and levels of fasting plasma glucose, triglyceride, and high-density lipoprotein. Stepwise regression analysis revealed that fasting plasma glucose level and body mass index contributed to 28% of L5% variance. The L5 concentration was associated with CVD risk and contributed to 11% of 30-year general CVD risk variance when controlling the variance of waist circumference. CONCLUSION: Our findings show that LDL electronegativity was associated with multiple CVD risk factors and CVD risk, suggesting that the LDL electronegativity index may have the potential to be a novel index for predicting CVD. Large-scale clinical trials are warranted to test the reliability of this hypothesis and the clinical importance of the LDL electronegativity index.