Papers of the Week

Percutaneous peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS) is an analgesic modality involving the insertion of a lead through an introducer needle followed by the delivery of electric current after needle withdrawal. This modality has been used extensively to treat chronic pain, but only small series have been published involving postoperative pain. The ultimate objective of this study is to determine the postoperative effects of percutaneous PNS following moderately to severely painful ambulatory surgery within a real-world clinical practice setting. The primary hypothesis is that surgical pain and opioid consumption during the initial 7 days after surgery will be reduced by percutaneous PNS compared with usual and customary analgesia (dual primary outcome measures).