Influence of Amitriptyline to the Effectiveness of the Spinal Cord Stimulation to the Phantom Limb Pain

Objective: We aimed to study how the amitriptyline intervention would have impact the curative effects of the phantom limb pain(PLP) patients who had been treated with the spinal cord stimulation(SCS).Methods: All the PLP patients who accepted the SCS implantation at our therapy centre during January 2007 to June 2009 and who fit in the selected standard and were the volunteers to this research were selected as subjects and we obtained 7 patients finally.All the patients' SCS were opened post-operation immediately and all the patients were taken amitriptyline one month post-operation.We used visual analogue scales(VAS),present pain intensity(PPI),the hospital anxiety and depression scale(HAD) and pain disability index(PDI) to assess the severity of pain,mood and the quality of life of the patients.Results: The pain,depression and anxiety mood and quality of life of these patients were improved dramatically after opened SCS post-operation.We obtained the same consequence after taken amitriptyline post-operation.Conclusion: Amitriptyline can promote the effectiveness of SCS of the PLP patients.