How is surgery used for pain after SCI?

Author: SCIRE Community Team | Reviewer: Patricia Mills | Published: 12 April 2017 | Updated: 18 October 2017, 10 October 2024

Surgery for pain is not common and is usually only considered when other treatments have not worked. The risks of surgery should be discussed carefully with your health team before going forward with any procedure. Research on surgery is challenging to conduct and each case is different so support is often based on weak evidence and expert opinion.

If the pain has a clear physical cause (such as a spinal instability or a torn muscle) surgery to correct the problem may help to reduce pain. This is done on a case-by-case basis depending on the problem.

Dorsal rhizotomy (DREZ procedure) is a surgical procedure where parts of the nerves close to the spinal cord are cut to interrupt pain signals from being sent to the brain. This is a permanent procedure that can be used for the management of neuropathic pain after SCI.

Dorsal longitudinal T-myelotomy is a surgical procedure where a small cut is made down the length of a thoracic spinal cord segment to disrupt nerve signals that cause spasticity and pain.