Intradiscal electrothermal treatment Archives - Pain Management Institute

Intradiscal electrothermal therapy or IDET is a comparatively new procedure devised to manage chronic lower back pain. It is slightly invasive surgery that makes use of heat delivered through the electrical device straight to the problem areas of your spine. Sometimes scar tissue formation and excessively grown nerve fibers from injury or chronic illness can cause debilitating disc pain. The fibers and nerve network get pinched by the disc causing severe pain

IDET works heating the outer most covering of the damaged disc. The heat helps reduce the fibers within the disc and impairs the pain receptors. Patients have reported significant pain relief in as quickly as three days and it can last up to six months

What is actually Intradiscal Electrothermal Therapy?

The slightly invasive procedure takes an hour and done on an outpatient basis. The procedure helps eliminate and manage lumbar back pain occur from a disease, injury or mild herniated disc. At the Pain Management Institute our Board Certified Anesthesiologist Dr Zaki Anwar. MD performs the procedure on an outpatient basis. During the procedure you can remain awake as he often uses local anesthesia and light sedation to minimize any discomfort. Discuss with your physician prior to the procedure about risk recovery and expectations. The detailed procedure is discussed in this blog, keep reading

Administering the needle

At The Pain Management Institute, we take advantage of the most modern technology to diagnose the precise point of the damaged disc in your spine. Once Dr. Zaki Anwar verifies the aimed point, he uses fluoroscopy X-ray imaging to administer a hollow needle straight to the disc

Inserting the heating wire

He then introduces the heating wire, that is an electrothermal catheter, with the needle steering it to precisely reach the damaged portion of the disc. You might not feel any pain at this point in the procedure

Dressing the disc wall

When the electrothermal catheter reached its aimed location, the power is turned on and the temperature of the wire is slowly increased to 90 degree Celcius. Dr. Zaki Anwar carefully monitors the process warming the damaged disc wall for about 15 to 20 minutes

Repairing the disc wall

The heat gradually shrinks and repairs the damage and torn disc wall area, it also slightly burns the nerve endings to make them less sensitive to pain. If you experience any pain during the procedure, it’s because of the heat applied to the disc

Recovery

Dr. Zaki Anwar, MD removes the electrothermal catheter and needle within 15 to 20 minutes. The injection point is covered with a small bandage and you can return home the same day

Intradiscal electrothermal therapy is a slightly intrusive therapy for chronic low back pain that arise from certain type of painful degenerated disc syndrome and disc herniation. The Intradiscal electrothermal therapy is also called IDET, after successful completion of Intradiscal Electrothermal Therapy most patients experience a potential reduction in pain without any surgery of disc removal and spinal fusion. The Intradiscal electrothermal therapy is carried by fusing a small tube called catheter directly into the disc and heating the disc. The whole procedure takes an hour to be completed, the process is done on an outpatient basis and many discs can be treated within a single session

The process

The process of Intradiscal electrothermal therapy is initiated by an introductory discogram test in which the lower disc or discs that are considered the cause of back pain is scanned with the MRI and injected with a contrasting pigmentation, the examination helps identify the small tears and disc herniations in the back of the disc. Once the problematic disc is recognized the patient is taken to the procedure room and is allowed to lay face down on the examination table, a moderate sedation is given intravenously to make sure the patient feels comfortable during the entire process, a soft catheter is infused into the aimed disc under the guidance of an X-ray and placed into the correct position, the catheter is heated to 90 degree Celsius for 15 to 16 minutes. The catheter is removed and soon the disc is injected with local anesthetic and antibiotics to avoid any uneasiness and risk of infections

Soon after the procedure the patients are usually allowed to wear a lower back brace in the early recovery period, after two months of wearing braces the patients undergo four weeks of physical therapy including the exercises that strengthens the muscles of the lower back and are encouraged to carry on with the light routinely activities

Potential Risks and Complications with IDET

The risks are attached in very rare case to Intradiscal electrothermal therapy if performed by an expert physician, however the risks arise in very rare cases the risks might be easily controlled and include;

Disc space infection
Nerve root injury
Post treatment disc herniation
Worsened back pain

Contraindications to IDET

Obesity
Significant reliance on narcotic pain medications either before or after IDET treatment
Significant disc space narrowing
Large disc herniations
Diffuse disc degeneration
Three or more symptomatic discs

In case you or any of your loved one is suffering from any chronic back pain and looking for a safe and cost-effective treatment, get a professional advice from Dr. Zaki Anwar by placing an appointment at 815-464-7212. He is a world renowned Pain Medicine Physician who has been practicing regenerative injection therapies for the past several years with remarkable results.

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Dress up by your spinal disc wall with IDET