Hi, I had a mri done, and they said there
is a small tear in one of my disks. They
said they want me to inject me with
something to fill the tear. Has anyone
had this done? What is it called? Is it
a one time thing? My back pain isn't all
the bad it only hurt during activities
like running and lifting weights.
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IMShirl
Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 30 Mar 2005 Posts: 204 Location: Wisconsin, USA
Thanks: 1
Thanked:0
Posted: 05-08-06 21:54pm
Hi shimmy ~
here are some treatments for tears of the
disc. I am not sure if this is what you
are talking about?
intradiscal electrothermoplasty
(idet)
this procedure involves the insertion of a
needle into the affected disc with the
guidance of an x-ray machine. A wire is
then threaded down through the needle and
into the disc until it lies along the
inner wall of the annulus. The wire is
then heated which destroys the small nerve
fibers that have grown into the cracks and
have invaded the degenerating disc.
The heat also partially melts the annulus,
which triggers the body to generate new
reinforcing proteins in the fibers of the
annulus. A study of fifty-three patients
with discogenic back pain was published in
the october issue of the journal, spine.
Depending on the stringency of criteria
used, the success rate of idet may be as
low as 23% or as high as 60%.
radiofrequency discal nucleoplasty
(coblation nucleoplasty)
nucleoplasty is even newer than idet; it
has been available for only a few months.
Similar to the idet procedure, a needle is
inserted into the disc. Instead of a
heating wire, a special radiofrequency
probe is inserted through the needle into
the disc. This probe generates a highly
focused plasma field with enough energy to
break up the molecular bonds of the gel in
the nucleus, essentially vaporizing some
of the nucleus. The result is that 10-20%
of the nucleus is removed which
decompresses the disc and reduces the
pressure both on the disc and the
surrounding nerve roots. This technique
may be more beneficial for sciatica type
of pain than the idet, since nucleoplasty
can actually reduce the disc bulge, which
is pressing on a nerve root. The
high-energy plasma field is actually
generated at relatively low temperatures,
so danger to surrounding tissues is
minimized.
These new techniques are exciting. They
offer the possibility of treating
discogenic low back pain and sciatica with
much less trauma and risk than surgery,
but we must remember that these are still
unproven technologies. I'll keep you
posted on how research on these techniques
develops, but it's great that we have some
new tools to help people with this often
debilitating problem.
Shirl :wink:
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shimmy
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 08 May 2006 Posts: 2
Posted: 05-08-06 21:59pm
I don't think that's it, he didn't say
anything about heating it.
