Electricity Harnessed To Stop Angina Pain

Electric Stimulation Blocks Pain Messages To Brain

POSTED: 5:57 p.m. PST March 22, 2004
UPDATED: 6:04 p.m. PST March 22, 2004

SAN DIEGO -- For years, 66-year-old Robert Smith lived with angina. He'd get frequent severe pains in his chest and it didn't matter whether he was out mowing the lawn or just watching television.

"It's kind of like a crushing sensation that comes over on your, on your chest, and it can be very painful," Smith said.

Angina happens when parts of the heart don't get enough blood. It is usually treated with drugs, angioplasty or bypass surgery. But for certain patients, none of that works.

Dr. Jeffrey Moses said, "The vessels that are blocked now are so tiny that they cause the pain, but there's nothing we can mechanically do to touch them."

A clinical trial is testing a neurostimulator to treat severe chronic angina. Surgeons place an electrode in the epidural space of the spine and attach it to a pacemaker-size battery implanted in the buttocks or upper abdomen. It delivers a mild electrical current to disrupt pain pathways.

Dr. Sanjay Bakhshi said, "The pain impulses have to go to the brain. and they go by the spinal cord. So, that's how this works at the level of the spinal cord. It's blocking the pain fibers going up to the brain and coming down."

Moses added, "This is one of the few bright spots on the horizon to treat these patients who are severely limited."

After years of limitations, Smith's finally feeling better.

Smith said, "It's not a cure of angina. It just basically relieves the pain and discomfort of it, but it makes you very, very much more productive."

Now, Smith is living a fuller, more pain-free life.

The implanted pacemaker-like device called the "startstim" has been used for chronic back pain since the 1980s. It's being tested for angina at 20 sites in the United States and Canada.