For 13 long years, she fought against an evil that had compromised her quality of life and seemed impossible to defeat. Then, her much-desired breakthrough came thanks to a new treatment, which restored her smile in just a day.
This is the story of Rina Ronchia 77-year-old woman residing in the province of Bologna who had been suffering from back pain since 2010: the elderly woman had the opportunity to undergo – for the first time in Emilia-Romagna – an innovative treatment consists of implanting a new type of electrical device near the spinal cord.
Lo “medullary stimulator” – so defined in medical jargon – in addition to acting on nerve cells, it targets the so-called “glial cells”, considered fundamental in the chronicisation of pain.
After being subjected to the first operation of the two foreseen – which took place last January 30 at the Pain Therapy Center of theBellaria Hospital in Bologna – the woman has already stated that she no longer feels that chronic pain that has tormented her lumbar area for over a decade: “I’m much better, I don’t feel the pain anymore – said the old woman – I’m very happy”.
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Rita Ronchi underwent the first minimally invasive operation under local anesthesia on January 30th and will soon undergo the definitive one.
«In the first step, an electric catheter is positioned, often little more than a hair, outside the dorsal spinal cord – explained Dr. Emanuele Piraccini – electrical tests are carried out to evaluate that the territory covered by the stimulus is the same where the patient he has pain. The catheter emerges from the skin and is connected to an external electrical generator».
After a month, we proceed with the second interventionduring which “a pulse generator is placed under the skin, connected to an electric generator above the buttock or in the lower abdomen – Pieraccini reported again – The therapeutic effect is obtained through the continuous delivery of electrical stimuli, not perceived by patients”.
After the case of Ronchi, two other treatments of this type were performed at Bellaria in Bologna. It is estimated that 40-50 patients suffering from chronic pain can be candidates for the implantation of the spinal cord stimulator.
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He also had his say on the matter Paolo Bordongeneral manager of the Local Health Authority of Bologna, underlining the efforts of the local health system to combat the scourge of chronic pain: “our activity has doubled since 2019 or today – reported Bordon – it is also a struggle for civilization and improvement of taking charge of our patients on an issue which, despite the presence of a national law, is still too underestimated”.