In addition, Abbott also received an FDA approval related to MRI compatibility in its chronic pain management portfolio.
Abbott’s BurstDR spinal cord stimulation therapy reduced pain-related health care visits, both in the short- and long-term, by an average of 75% after five years of use. The company’s dorsal root ganglion system, used to treat several chronic pain conditions, also saw an average of 73% reduction in pain-related healthcare visits among patients who reached the five-year mark with the implant, according to data released Jan. 23 by Abbott.
Chronic pain affects more than 1 in 5 adults in the United States, costing patients an average of over $8,000 annually in medical expenditures, according to a 2021 study mentioned in Abbott’s announcement. Americans living with chronic pain lose over $2,900 in productivity each year with repeat office visits, physical therapy, medication and repeat diagnostic imaging.
“With spinal cord stimulation, we can dramatically reduce the burden placed on patients who suffer from chronic pain and help them return to a level of normality that many of them believe they have lost,” said lead author on the study, Dr. Timothy Deer, CEO of the Spine and Nerve Centers of the Virginias in Charleston, West Virginia.
Abbott’s BurstDR spinal cord stimulation technology delivers mild electrical pulses aimed at neutralizing pain signals as they travel from the spinal cord to the brain, changing how patients experience pain and limiting the “tingling” sensation of tonic stimulation. Patients using Abbott’s system reported sustained improvements in pain relief and physical function, reductions in pain catastrophizing (a potentially debilitating mental dwelling on pain) to a normal, healthy level beginning six months post-implant and maintained over five years of use.
Abbott offers a suite of neuromodulation devices that use BurstDR spinal cord stimulation to treat chronic pain.
Abbott’s Proclaim dorsal root ganglion (DRG) system is used to treat patients with chronic lower extremity pain, complex regional pain syndrome Type 1 and 2, peripheral neuropathy, back pain and failed back surgery syndrome. Proclaim delivers low-energy stimulation to the dorsal root ganglion nerves along the spine, interrupting the pain signal before it reaches the spinal cord and brain, impacting how the patient experiences pain.
After announcing the new clinical data at the North American Neuromodulation Society 2026 Annual Meeting in Las Vegas, Abbott also announced that it received FDA approval for prone MRI scans with its chronic pain system portfolio. Now, new and existing patients with an Abbott neurostimulation system, like Proclaim, will be able to undergo prone MRI imaging, in addition to the previously approved supine scan. In the statement, Abbott said nearly 84% of people with spinal cord stimulators will need at least one MRI within five years of implantation.
With this promising new data, Abbott said it will continue to invest in research to improve neuromodulation therapies. The goal is to better understand how patients experience and communicate pain and further individualize its approach to chronic pain management.
