ARKANSAS: New device offered by UAMS relieves diabetic neuropathy pain
A device that aims to lessen the pain of nerve damage caused by diabetes is available to people with the disease thanks in part to a trial led by Erika Petersen, neurosurgeon and professor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. The Nevro HFX spinal cord stimulator was approved by the FDA in 2021 after Petersen's trial showed the device could reduce by 50% the pain of diabetic neuropathy, which afflicts around half of people with diabetes.
A new treatment option emerged last year when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a medical device designed to relieve back pain by stimulating the spinal cord.
The approval followed a clinical trial led by Dr. Erika Petersen, professor of neurosurgery at UAMS. The study, which involved 216 patients at 18 centers across the United States, found the treatment could provide pain reduction of 50% or more for patients over 12 months. The trial began in 2017 and followed patients for 24 months, according to a news release from UAMS.