Surrey man first in Canada to receive electrical device implant to address chronic pain

A man from Surrey is the first in Canada to receive a groundbreaking technological implant designed to address chronic pain.

A South Surrey man is the first in the country to receive a life altering intervention to address decades of chronic pain.

In February, Sean Forsberg underwent surgery at St. Paul’s Hospital where he received an implant with the latest advancements in spinal cord stimulators – closed-loop technology.

At 19-years-old, a motorcycle crash left Forsberg in debilitating pain.

“I was very much in that prime of my life,” he said.

“I was in school full-time. I was working full time, I played rugby, I was very active, it definitely was something that kind of upended and threw all of that for a loop.”

The 39-year-old said he tried everything to address the nerve pain shooting through his right leg and foot, such as physiotherapy, medication and surgery – but nothing worked.

“They said, barring any kind of big major advancement, we’ve kind of reached the end of where you can get to,” he said.

Device mitigates pain

Eventually he was told about the Inceptiv spinal cord stimulator that utilizes closed-loop technology.

According to Dr. Vishal Varshney, an anesthesiologist and pain medicine physician at St. Paul’s, the device consists of an electrode that is placed in the epidural space, located behind the spinal cord.

“It’s attached to a battery that is implanted in the body that’s about the size of a pack of dental floss,” he said.

“And this battery is delivering electrical signals through those electrodes to change how pain signals are interpreted.”

Vishnal said the device turns the volume down on pain signals.

“What we find now with the closed loop stimulation is that it’s able to consistently deliver this therapy to patients so that they don’t get over or under stimulation, and that their therapy is maintained consistently,” he said.

Varshney said a total of 16 patients have had the procedure.

He added it costs anywhere from $25,000 to $30,000 and the province has funding for 24 devices.

“I think we see about 180 patients a year that could potentially be candidates for this device,” he said.

“And so only being able to offer it to a subset of that is challenging.”

‘Fire alarm going off’

Prior to the surgery, Forsberg had challenges walking and spent 16 to 20 hours in bed due to his chronic pain.

Now his pain levels have significantly reduced, he said.

“Before I was living with a fire alarm going off in the room with me, there was no way to ignore that, there was no way to hear anything else,” he said.

“And now that fire alarm is outside down the hall with the door closed.”