Mark,
i just posted this for ellen, so will post it for you as well.....I would think that since your injections did not work, this procedure may not work for you either. They use the injectons to find the pain generators, numb it with medication and then if it works at stopping the pain for a few hours, you might be helped with ablation. I had to keep a diary of my pain levels after the injections for 24 hours. If the pain was not eliminated by the shots, it will not be helped by the procedure either. They usually do a series of three shots about six weeks apart.
I think what you are referring to is rhizotomy. You could google the word rhizotomy and find information on this procedure.
Http://www.Google.Com/search?Sourceid=navc
lient&ie=utf-8&rls=gglg,gglg:2006-
08,gglg:en&q=facet+rhizotomy
my first pain management doctor wanted to do a rhizotomy, but my oss did not think that it would help me.
You will find that some people think it is a real help to dissolving their pain, while others have seen no improvment. I would get other opinions from other pain management docs or from your spinal surgeon before allowing this procedure. I would also make certain that you have an experienced doctor that has done this procedure many times. There are serious consequences with this procedure if you are not in the hands of an experienced doc.
Rhizotomy as described by spine universe:
http://spinetalk.Conforums.Com/index.Cgi?B
oard=treatment&action=display&num=
1156348462
if a page comes up stating it cannot be found, simply click on the link for spine talk, go to spine treatment options and experiences, click on it and then go to facet rhizotomy. For some reason I cannot get the link to spine universe to work from this page or to this other page. It may be that this board disables links to other spine information.
This is from spine universe and is an article by steven richeimer, m.D.
Director
usc pain management, usc medical center
los angeles, ca, usa
the facet joints are often the primary source of pain for many back pain sufferers. Facet joints are small joints located in pairs on the back of the spine that provide stability to the spine and allow the spine to move and be flexible.
Depending on where the problematic facet joints are located, they can cause pain in the mid-back, ribs, chest (thoracic facet joints), lower back, abdomen, buttocks, groin, or legs (lumbar facet joints), neck, shoulders, and even headaches (cervical facet joints).
Facet joint injections of steroid medications are often given to patients with this type of pain. The injections not only provide pain relief, they can also help the physician pinpoint exactly where the pain originates and can confirm or reject the facet joints as the source of the pain. For many patients, facet joint injections provide adequate relief. For others, however, the pain relief is too short-lived. For these patients, facet rhizotomy may be the answer.
What is facet rhizotomy?
The goal of a facet rhizotomy is to provide pain relief by "shutting off" the pain signals that the joints send to the brain. The pain relief experienced by most patients who have this procedure lasts months or even years.
How it is done
patients who are candidates for rhizotomy typically have undergone several facet joint injections to verify the source and exact location of their pain. Using a local anesthetic and x-ray guidance, a needle with an electrode at the tip is placed along side the small nerves to the facet joint. The electrode is then heated, with a technology called radiofrequency, to deaden these nerves that carry pain signals to the brain.
Serious complications with facet rhizotomies are rare. A new technique using pulsed radiofrequency does not actually burn the nerve, but appears to stun the nerve. This technique appears to be even safer than the regular radiofrequency technique, but does seem to have the drawback of not lasting quite as long. Some specialists (such as the author) prefer to use the pulsed technique in higher risk areas such as the neck.
The procedure takes about 30-60 minutes. Afterwards, patients are monitored for a short time before being released.
As you can see the nerve is not cut, it is burned. The surgeons use the term âshutting off â the signal, but it does not mean cutting like with scissors.
This procedure can be done using two different methods. I was offered both and both are deemed effective.
One method is as described here and the other is by cryoablation. During this procedure cold is used and is described here:
cryoneurolysis/cryoablation: a technique that relieves pain by using cold to destroy nerve tissue.
Radiofrequency nerve ablation is the term used when radio waves are generated and used to produce heat. By generating heat around a nerve, the nerves ability to transmit pain is destroyed, thus ablating the nerve.
Rhizotomy- surgical severance of spinal nerve roots to relieve pain or hypertension.
Severance can be performed by cryoneurolysis/cryoablation and radiofrequency nerve ablation. These are two methods of deadening the nerve tissue and stopping the pain. The nerve is severed during these procedures.
Gjzh
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