Mom Gets Her Life Back After Debilitating Back Pain

Running after a six-year-old can be taxing, but imagine if you couldn’t even stand 
up straight and needed to care for a young child.

That was Tina DiGiovanni’s life up until a few months ago.

DiGiovanni, of Lake Grove, began experiencing debilitating back pain last April and found herself relying increasingly on family members to complete daily tasks. The pain continued to send her life into a tail spin, causing her to quit her job and launching her into a depression. 

After trying a number of treatment options, DiGiovanni had a new, MRI-compatible spinal cord stimulator (SCS) implanted. Versions of this device have been around since the 1980s, but the new one allows patients like Tina to get MRI tests without needing additional surgery to remove the stimulator.
 
The device replaces pain with a tingling sensation. DiGiovanni was the first person in New York State to have the new device implanted in August at Syosset Hospital.

Director of Interventional Pain Management at Syosset Hospital, Dr. John Stamatos, performed the surgery after trying numerous other treatment options for DiGiovanni over the past two years. 

With the pain gone, DiGiovanni is now on the road to recovery. She is returning to her job as a hospital medical assistant on Friday after 10 months leave and should be able to resume full activity within two months of the procedure. She credits Stamatos and the device with "giving her life back."

So far, Syosset Hospital surgeons have installed 10 of the devices into patients. The procedure takes about an hour on two visits a week apart and has a battery life of 10 years. The procedure is also reversible. 

Because the device is not affected by MRIs, Stamatos said it is ideal for most patients with chronic back pain who will likely need another MRI in the future. With non-MRI compatible devices, the device would have to be removed. 

Chronic pain is considered to be pain that lasts for more than three months and interrupts a person’s daily activities. According to Medtronic, the creator of the MRI-compatible SCS, about 116 million American adults have chronic pain, which is 
more than the number of people impacted by cancer, heart disease and diabetes 
combined.

The North Shore-LIJ system offers the new devices, released by Medtronic in August at all of their facilities which install spinal chord stimulator procedures.