Remote-controlled medical device helps alleviate chronic pain

SALT  LAKE CITY — Doctors at Salt Lake Regional Medical Center on Wednesday implanted one of the country's first medical devices that specifically adapts and responds to a person's pain.

The treatment, which utilizes the new Medtronic AdaptiveStim with RestoreSensor neurostimulation system, leverages motion sensor technology similar to that found in many consumer electronics, such as smartphones and computer gaming systems, to provide pain relief. The newly FDA-approved device compensates for movement in the body and is said to provide added convenience to patients.

Laury Bullock, a former emergency medical technician with the Salt Lake City Fire Department, received the device, which is about the size of a pacemaker, during surgery Wednesday.

For several years, Bullock has experienced severe chronic pain in his hands and feet, believed to have been caused by exposure to hazardous chemicals and toxins he inhaled while responding with his unit to a fire at a methamphetamine lab more than a decade ago.

"We thought it was a kitchen fire and went to put it out," he said. "I couldn't breathe. We didn't know what a meth lab was back then."

His partner later died from lung cancer, believed to be related to the same incident that has caused health problems and forced an early retirement for Bullock.

Due to extreme pain, Bullock had trouble walking and had to give up skiing and hiking. The new device aims to make all that easier for him. A handheld remote helps him interrupt pain signals sent from his limbs to his brain and regulate the effect that typical body movements have on the pain.

The treatment has fast become a mainstay for chronic pain management.

An estimated 116 million American adults are affected by chronic pain, which as in Bullock's condition, often imposes on day-to-day functioning and regular lifestyles.

"This new offering gives these chronic pain patients an important new option to help manage their pain symptoms and enable the return to their normal activities," Pulley said.

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