Fw: nsm / tx option for lower back pain

[Guest guest]

Not exactly Tethered Cord related, but I still thought some of you may be

interested. I got it off another List I am on.

Me

mymocha@...

> Medical Device An Effective Alternative to Spinal Fusion For Low Back Pain

>

> By Martha Kerr

> NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Sept 06 - Results of a double-blind,

> placebo-controlled trial show that IntraDiscal ElectroThermal Therapy

(IDET,

> & Nephew) results in a statistically significantly reduction in pain

> related to herniated lumbar discs.

> Dr. Pauza of the East Texas Medical Center Neurological Institute in

> Tyler, Texas, reported the results of IDET in 64 patients Saturday at the

> 10th annual scientific meeting of the International Spinal Injection

Society

> being held in Austin, Texas.

> In IDET, a spinal catheter is inserted into the affected disc, where a

metal

> electrode is then inserted and heated for 17 minutes, denaturing the

protein

> of the disc and rendering it more dense, Dr. Pauza explained. " It's a

pretty

> benign procedure compared with fusion, " Dr. Pauza told Reuters Health. The

> entire outpatient procedural time is about 30 minutes.

> At six months follow-up, Dr. Pauza found that 78% of patients in the

> treatment group showed an improvement in back pain compared with 56% in

the

> placebo group. Thirty percent of patients in the placebo group had a

> worsening of symptoms compared with 6% in the treatment group.

> Dr. Pauza and colleagues also found that patients in the treatment group

had

> an improvement in symptoms of depression compared with the placebo group.

> " And this was while the patients were still blinded...There was a change

in

> the emotional state of the brain, " Dr. Pauza said. This finding indicates

> that pain is a direct cause of depression, he added.

> " This [study design] could be used as a springboard for other back

studies, "

> Dr. Pauza commented, as use of a control group is rarely used in studies

of

> medical devices.

> The cost of back pain in the US is about $55 billion annually, with 39% of

it

> attributable to low back pain, Dr. Pauza commented. Before approval of the

> IDET device in 1998, the Texas surgeon pointed out that there were only

two

> options for low back pain - no treatment or spinal fusion.

>

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