Saluda's auto-adapting Evoke SCS system offers improved pain relief in long-term study

Saluda Medical's Evoke closed-loop spinal cord stimulation (SCS) system, equipped with SmartLoop neural sensing technology, demonstrated superior pain relief over open-loop therapy in a long-term study. The findings will be presented later this week at the North American Neuromodulation Society (NANS) annual meeting. 

While open-loop systems rely on patients or their caregivers to adjust dosing in response to changes in pain, closed-loop systems like Evoke adapt dosing of stimulation therapy based on automated and continuous measurement of nerves’ responses.

The FDA cleared the Evoke SCS system in 2022 to treat chronic intractable pain of the trunk and/or limbs. The system automatically reads, records, and responds to the nerves' response to stimulation more than 4 million times per day to offer patients consistently optimised therapy. The system's SmartLoop technology provides precise neural dosing by measuring evoked compound action potentials (ECAPs) in real time.

Improved outcomes

The results are part of a late-breaking presentation of data from the three-year EVOKE study. According to Saluda, the SmartLoop therapy was also associated with significantly better adherence to prescribed electrical dose compared to the study's open-loop arm.The company believes the findings could pave the way for a "new era of objective therapy measures that enable improved long-term clinical outcomes for SCS." The system has previously demonstrated statistically superior overall back and leg pain relief at 12 months over open-loop SCS, with no increase in pain medication. 

Meanwhile, Saluda is also set to showcase 13 posters and presentations that will include further data on long-term SCS results and neural monitoring to optimise the efficacy of SCS long-term therapy. 

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