Spinal Cord Stimulation for patients with Chemotherapy Induced Peripheral Neuropathy: unravelling the anatomical hotspot, spinal processes and objective markers of the painful status [NEEDY project] 198 / 240

Despite the high prevalence of 30% of patients suffering from chemotherapy induced peripheral
neuropathy (CIPN) 6 months post-chemotherapy, there is no efficient pharmacological treatment.
The overall objective of this project is to provide Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS) as pain management
tool to CIPN patients. Yet, 3 crucial lacunes pose fundamental research gaps before this therapy can
be evaluated in clinical practice. First, the exact anatomical lead location is unknown. Secondly,
sensorimotor processes at the spinal level are not yet elucidated. Thirdly, there is a lack of objective
markers to evaluate the painful status of CIPN. Consequently, the first aim is to determine the
anatomical hotspot for SCS at the cervical level by mapping peaks of activity after somatosensory
stimulation in upper and lower limbs. The second aim is to evaluate whether there is a spinalmidbrain
coupling and to determine the spinal organisation to shed light on human spinal
mechanisms in vivo. The third aim is to identify objective measures with a first in-human experiment
to detect heart rate variability (HRV) from a cervical SCS lead. The state of neuroinflammation will be
evaluated through stool and blood samples. This project incorporates an innovative way of exploring
spinal mechanisms of SCS and a unique feature of detecting HRV from SCS leads, wherefore the
results of this project will be applicable in diverse medical settings, and thus be impactful beyond
chronic pain management.