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IDET Treatment

Intradiscal Heat Therapies: IDET and Biacupoplasty Intradiscal heat treatments include Biaculoplasty and IDET and can treat chronic low back pain. Specialist physicians who are trained to perform this application use heat to reduce the sensitivity of nerve fibers in the spinal disc. More than one disc can be treated. Both techniques offer alternatives to low back surgery for well-chosen patients.

Good candidates for disc warming include patients with one or both pressure-sensitive lumbar discs, often with normal or near-normal disc height, who are in the early stages of the disc lysis phase. Lumbar imaging (MR or CT) and lumbar discography are tests that will determine if intra-disc heat treatments are right for you. Let's take a look at them now.

 
Intradiscal Electrothermal Therapy (IDET)

Research on IDET has proven the procedure to be effective for eligible patients; About 75 percent of those treated reported satisfactory results, such as reduced pain and increased mobility. IDET is also a cost-effective method of treating low back pain, especially when compared to expensive back surgery.

 
How Does IDET Work?

 

Age or injury can cause tears or cracks in the walls of the discs between the bones of the spine. These tears can become filled with tiny nerve endings and blood vessels and are the source of chronic pain for many patients. Theoretically, the IDET procedure thickens and strengthens the disc wall by applying controlled heat to the disc wall. This heat lesion also destroys the nerve fibers that cause pain in the disc, removing the pain from that source.

First, a small tube called a catheter is inserted into the disc, accompanied by an x-ray device called scopy. The catheter is then moved to obtain a 360-degree entry. Heat is supplied to the disc through the catheter and gradually increased to approximately 80 degrees. The entire IDET procedure is performed on an outpatient basis and takes approximately one hour with an additional hour of recovery time.

Some patients report immediate relief of pain, but significant relief and improvement in function are more likely as the disc heals. This process usually takes four to twelve weeks. Patients typically return to their basic work within a week of the procedure. After six weeks, more strenuous physical activity can begin, along with well-planned physical therapy. Six months after the procedure, patients can fully recover.

 
Who Can Benefit From IDET?

 

IDET candidates are individuals with chronic discogenic back pain that does not respond to aggressive, non-surgical treatment. Generally, patients have had low back pain for at least six months, have a normal neurological examination, and have an MRI that shows no neural suppressing lesions. Discography is necessary to confirm that the disc itself is the source of the pain, to determine the number of affected discs, and to locate tears within the disc(s). IDET is not indicated for severe disc degeneration, nerve entrapment, spinal instability, or spinal stenosis.

 
Disc Biacupoplasty

 

Biacuplasty is used to treat discogenic pain or disc-related pain. Discogenic pain is traditionally treated with surgery, i.e. herniated disc surgery and disc replacements. Unfortunately, such surgeries are extremely risky with long recovery times.

Biacuplasty is an easy, effective and minimally invasive method for the treatment of discogenic pain. In successful cases, patients can avoid surgery and return to their favorite activities without experiencing a painful recovery after surgery.

 
How is Disk Biacupoplasty performed?

 

Disc biacuplasty is an innovative and highly sophisticated treatment that uses a Trans Discal System (TDS) to treat chronic low back pain originating from a spinal disc. Also known as discogenic pain, this condition is treated using radiofrequency technology to disable sensory nerves that may be responsible for the pain.

The TransDiscal System (TDS) is a medical device that allows the back of the disc to be heated to temperatures high enough to cut off the pain-transmitting nerves inside it, while maintaining temperatures low enough to prevent damage to surrounding tissues. TDS uses two electrodes on the tips of two thin probes placed on either side of the back of the intervertebral disc and inserts them through the skin into the disc under scope. The radiofrequency current flows between the two electrodes in the disc and heats the tissue in the disc to the desired temperature.

 
Who can benefit from Disk Biacuplasty?

 

If you have chronic discogenic back pain, you may benefit from disc biacuplasty. However, only a specialist doctor can accurately diagnose you and recommend appropriate treatments. Talk to your pain management doctor to find out if disc biacuplasty is right for you.

Only algology specialists apply this treatment.

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