Leeds is only the fourth centre in the UK to offer this procedure, after London, Glasgow and Liverpool. This means eligible palliative care patients from across the Yorkshire region and beyond, who may find it difficult to travel long distances due to their condition, will now be able to access the treatment.
The procedure, called percutaneous cervical cordotomy, involves heating up the nerves in the spinal cord at the top of the neck, permanently relieving pain on the affected side of the body, while still allowing the patient to walk and move around freely afterwards.
Leslie Thompson, 79, from Yeadon, was the first patient to receive the treatment at St James’s University Hospital. He has lung cancer, which has been causing him severe pain on one side.
“They look after you really well here,” he said as he tucked into tea and toast afterwards.
“I feel less pain in my lung. I think it’s a good idea and it will help a lot of other people. The pain you get with cancer is unbelievable and it affects lots of people.”
Dr Sheila Black, Consultant in anaesthesia and pain management at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, carried out the procedure after extensive training at hospitals in Glasgow and London.
She said: “I asked Leslie after the procedure: ‘How is your pain?’ and he said: ‘What pain?’. That’s really wonderful to hear.
“This is a really good treatment for patients with one-sided pain. It’s particularly useful for patients who have lung cancer or mesothelioma, a type of cancer which usually occurs after asbestos exposure.
“Lots of the other treatments we have for pain have side effects, like morphine, which can cause sickness and constipation and sometimes still not help relieve the pain.”
The procedure involves using a radiofrequency generator, and needles which heat up and burn the nerves on the opposite side of the neck to where the pain is located. It is only suitable for patients who have one-sided pain and are well enough to benefit from the procedure. It is a specialised procedure and should be discussed with consultants and medical teams before it could be considered.
Dr Black said: “All the nerves to that side of the body pass through the neck and we burn those nerves so that the patient doesn’t have pain or temperature sensation on that side of the body. He will still have touch and power, he can still walk and move around but just not feel pain on that side of the body. This can make patients’ remaining weeks and months of life more comfortable.”
Offering this service at Leeds has involved collaboration with the palliative care teams, the oncology ward teams and hospice teams.
Dr Juliet Hulbert, Speciality Doctor in palliative medicine at Sue Ryder Wheatfields Hospice, said: “This is an amazing service and will have a profound impact for a group of patients with really difficult to manage pain. Providing this treatment in Leeds makes a real difference for palliative care patients who may struggle to travel if they are frail. It’s potentially going to improve the quality of life for some patients exponentially, because we can get on top of their pain when we have struggled to do so by any other means.”