Evidence Comparing Trial vs Direct-to Implant
Part of Trial or No Trial? The Future of SCS Selection
Details
- Date
- Saturday, January 23, 2027
- Time
- 10:50 AM – 11:05 AM
- Session type
- Concurrent Session
- Schedule
- See this day
About
This controversy-based panel will examine whether the conventional screening trial paradigm for spinal cord stimulation (SCS) still represents best practice in 2027. Speakers will review the evidence comparing trial-first versus direct-to-implant strategies, discuss how trial duration may influence both signal quality and infection risk, analyze how false positives and responder enrichment bias can distort both research and real-world decision-making, and evaluate the cost-effectiveness implications of maintaining or abandoning trial-based selection. The session is designed to move beyond dogma and provide attendees with a practical, evidence-informed framework for patient selection in modern SCS practice.
Presenters
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Sam Eldabe MB ChB, FRCA, FFPMRCA is a pain medicine consultant at The James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough, UK. He is an Honorary Professor of Pain Medicine at the Clinical Trials Unit of the University of Warwick. He heads the pain department at the Hôpital de Morges, Vaud, Switzerland, and divides his time between the UK and Switzerland.
Sam has practiced neuromodulation for more than 29 years, having founded the neuromodulation department at The James Cook Hospital. His neuromodulation work includes ITDD for cancer pain and spasticity, as well as neurostimulation for Chronic Pain, which led him to an interest in medication management, particularly opioid reduction.
He is interested in both the conduct of neuromodulation research and the critical analysis of neuromodulation manuscripts. He is the author of more than 150 manuscripts in pain management and neuromodulation. His current research interests include deprescribing opioids. He is Co-Chief Investigator of the I-WOTCH study published in JAMA in 2023. In 2023, Sam was named associate editor-in-chief for the Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine Journal.