A Donor-funded Pilot Study at The Moncton Hospital Looks to Benefit Patients with Chronic Pain

A new pilot study, led by Dr. Antonios El Helou, Neurosurgeon at The Moncton Hospital, will investigate biomarkers predictive of treatment outcomes in chronic pain patients undergoing neuromodulation therapy. One of the most common examples of neuromodulation is the use of spinal cord stimulation (SCS) for chronic pain management.

The study, which will commence late fall, has been made possible through the Friends of The Moncton Hospital Foundation’s Community Health Research and Education Endowment (CHREE) Fund. This fund supports community-based, health research and education within Horizon Health Network, Moncton area. The CHREE Fund awarded Dr. El Helou $24,600 to complete this study.

The goal of the study is to establish a robust marker that can predict long-term spinal cord stimulation treatment response; the results will help us know which population to target and make it easier for patients to access the treatment.

Neuromodulation is a series of techniques that act directly on your nervous system. By changing the way your nerves carry information to and from the brain, it can help improve pain and/or increase mobility.

“Pain after spine surgery is very difficult for patients. A large percentage of them suffer from this pain,” says Dr. El Helou.

“There are many procedures we can perform to alleviate that pain. The benefit of the research will be to better identify who will profit from stimulation surgery, so that we can access the treatment faster and earlier,” explains Dr. El Helou.

Currently, there is a large number of patients with persistent pain who are grouped together, making it difficult to see who would benefit most from the pain procedures.

In terms of how the study will be conducted, Dr. El Helou says, “We will take images before the pain procedure is done, and if the patient has a good response to the therapy, we will repeat the images and compare the before and after. We will look to see if the brain function is improving.”

Dr. El Helou says that patients who suffer from chronic pain, especially those who have had surgery on their lower back, will be the first people included in this study. The first phase of the study will include 15 patient participants.

“The research funds are very helpful. Without this support, we would not be able to do the research. The funds allow us to access radiology and have a team that can work together to gather the data,” Dr. El Helou shares.

“I want to thank the Friends of The Moncton Hospital Foundation for this research fund,” expressed Dr. El Helou. “We believe the study will take around a year to complete. We hope by the end of next year, we will get the results we are looking for and move forward from there.”

Published August 5th, 2025