Papers of the Week

Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) is increasingly utilized in the treatment of multiple chronic pain conditions. However, patients will continue to experience other medical issues and the potential for future magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) needs must not be overlooked. SCS devices have device-specific MRI conditional labeling and if impedances are elevated the patient may not be able to obtain an MRI. With 10 kHz SCS devices specifically, an impedance value above 10,000 ohms (Ω) is MRI ineligible. The primary objective of this article was to report the incidence of elevated impedances with a multilumen lead design per electrode, per lead, and to describe the total number of MRI ineligible patients due to elevated impedances using 10 kHz SCS cutoff values. The secondary objective was to determine whether certain patient demographics or surgery characteristics put patients at increased risk of elevated impedances.