Clinical Practice Audit of 60-day Temporary Peripheral Nerve Stimulation

Objective: To prospectively evaluate pain relief and functional outcomes through 14 months after 60-day percutaneous peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS) in a consecutive real-world cohort. Design: Prospective single-center observational cohort study of 102 consecutive patients implanted with 60-day temporary percutaneous PNS for chronic pain. Outcomes were collected at 2 weeks and 2, 5, 8, 11, and 14 months. The principal outcome measure was the proportion reporting ≥50% pain relief at each follow-up interval. Secondary outcomes included ≥80% pain relief, numeric pain rating scale (NRS), Brief Pain Inventory item 9a (BP-9a), Oswestry Disability Index, Patient Global Impression of Change (PGIC), and adverse events. Results: ≥50% pain relief was reported by 49/102 (48.0%; 95% CI, 38.0–58.2%) at 2 weeks, 34/102 (33.3%; 95% CI, 24.3–43.4%) at 2 months, 16/102 (15.7%; 95% CI, 9.2–24.2%) at 5 months, 10/102 (9.8%; 95% CI, 4.8–17.3%) at 8 months, and 4/102 (3.9%; 95% CI, 1.1–9.7%) at 11 months. At 14 months, no participants met the ≥50% threshold (0/4 observed case; 0/102 under the fixed-denominator framework). Conclusions: In this heterogeneous real-world cohort, 60-day temporary PNS produced short-term benefit in a subset of patients, but durable post-explant response was uncommon.