Clinical Aspects of Burst Stimulation for Pain Control

Abstract Burst stimulation and high-frequency stimulation have recently caused a shift in focus of neuromodulation research from better targeting efforts to better communication with the nervous system. The inception of burst stimulation was based on mimicking burst firing in the nervous system. It appears to be superior to classic tonic stimulation considering the amount of pain suppression, to have an additional pain reduction over tonic, and to have the capability to rescue nonresponders to tonic stimulation. Burst stimulation may be applied free of paresthesia, and seems to be able to suppress chronic neuropathic pain by affecting not only the lateral pathway but also the medial pathway, and perhaps even the descending inhibitory pathway.