gms | German Medical Science

Background: The coronary artery disease is the most common cause of death in industrialized countries – in Germany approximately 200.000 heart strokes are recognized every year. Refractory angina pectoris (AP) is a chronic condition characterized by the presence of angina caused by coronary insufficiency in the presence of coronary artery disease which cannot be controlled by a combination of medical therapy, angioplasty and coronary bypass surgery. In these cases an implantation of Spinal Cord Stimulation System can be useful.

Material and Methods: From 2004 to 2014 nine patients with refractory AP underwent implantation of a Spinal-cord-stimulation (SCS)-System at our department. Seven patients have been interviewed with a modified version of the Seattle Angina Questionnaire, which is the leading health-related quality-of-life measure for people with coronary artery disease, contenting twelve questions.

Results: Five patients specify that the frequency of angina attacks is clearly reduced (from averagely three times each day to no attacks in the last four weeks) after three months of implantation of the SCS system. Additionally, the intake of nitro decreased in all patients.

Conclusion: SCS device implantation is able to treat severe AP in coronary artery disease after insufficiency of conventional medical therapy and revascularisation procedures. Further studies with large patient numbers are necessary to corroborate our results.