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| The Precision Spectra Spinal Cord Stimulator--Courtesy of Boston Scientific |
Boston Scientific ($BSX) promoted new information that its latest spinal cord stimulator is twice as effective as its predecessor at lower back pain relief at the International Neuromodulation Society 12th World Congress in Montreal.
The data dump takes on added significance because the company last year said changes to Medicare reimbursement for physician office trialing of spinal cord stimulation systems hurt sales. Additional positive data could help increase the support of third-party payers like the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Boston Scientific cited an observational, postmarket study of more than 300 patients treated with the new Precision Spectra System and previous generation Precision Plus. The data showed that among Spectra patients, almost three-fourths of patients with lower back pain experienced a significant reduction in pain, and the improvement was more than double that achieved by the Precision Plus.
More than 80% of leg pain-only patients responded to the therapy, Boston Scientific said in a release. And 72% of overall pain patients were responders. Pain reduction was measured using a 0-10 numeric scale.
In addition, 25 patients who received the new CoverEdge 32 Surgical Leads were followed after implantation. They performed better than the others, achieving a response rate of 90%. The new feature enables the device to provide electrical stimulation at 32 points of contact on the spinal cord, up from 16 in the previous version. The latest Spectra also has four lead ports on the body of the device, instead of two.
These additions enable physicians to make changes in response to patients' changing pain patterns over time, the company says. It also touts the device's neural targeting software, which helps determine the optimal positioning of the electrical stimulation contact points along the spinal cord.
"We designed the Precision Spectra SCS System to achieve even better outcomes when treating low back pain," said Maulik Nanavaty, president of Boston Scientific's neuromodulation unit, in a statement. "These real-world clinical data demonstrate that the Precision Spectra System with our proprietary neural targeting software is a significant scientific advancement in pain management."
- read the release