Long Island Neurosurgical & Spinal Associates (LINSA)
Pain Alleviation

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  Painfull conditions

  • Chronic pain can be caused by a large number of conditions such as a "bad back or neck", post-amputation phantom pain, nerve damage in an arm or leg, peripheral neuropathies, inflammation of the arachnoid membrane of the spinal cord with adhesive arachnoiditis, and many other nervous system diseases that affect the sensory pathways.

  • Nerve damage may also result in a complex reaction in the affected area, with not just pain but also changes in skin temperature and appearance (Reflex dystrophy).

  • Loss of blood supply to an area of the body can cause ischemic pain.

  • Chronic pain can also by caused by with damage to internal tissues and organ. This type of pain occurs with often in cancer patients, when the tumor expands and presses against or invades adjacent tissue.Cancer involving the bones or spine are notoriously painful.

Sample list of specific conditions that may be helped
Implantable Therapy
The ideal patient for an implantable treatment is one who has exhausted the more conservative therapies, and who experiences a significant amount of pain relief in a test trial of  Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS) or Intrathecal Drug Infusion. SCS is often used with patients who have a failed back syndrome with chronic nerve damage, despite corrective surgery. Intraspinal drug infusion is used primarily for cancer patients with an inadequate response to or severe side effects associated with traditional pain medications, or patients with intractable painful muscle spasms.