my personal edition > back pain > news


  E-Mail this DGReview to a colleague

DGReview

Electrothermal Therapy Significantly Reduces Chronic Low Back Pain

Patients with chronic discogenic low back pain who failed to get relief from comprehensive non-operative care improved markedly after intradiscal electrothermal therapy (also known as intradiscal electrothermal annuloplasty).

Improvements in pain, physical function and quality of life at two years were statistically significant, said physicians at Menlo Park, California, United States. Previous reports after intradiscal electrothermal therapy had shown statistically significant improvement at one year.

Intradiscal electrothermal therapy is usually reserved for patients who have tried aggressive, non-operative techniques to relieve their pain without success. It is less invasive than most back surgeries, requiring only the insertion of an electrothermal catheter into the painful disc.

The physicians carried out a prospective longitudinal study in 58 patients with chronic symptoms of more than six months who received intradiscal electrothermal therapy after non-operative care had failed.

Visual analogue pain scores, SF-36 scores and sitting tolerance times were recorded before treatment and at six, 12, and 24 months.

The mean duration of symptoms before treatment was 60.7 months. Minimum follow-up was 24 months.

Intradiscal electrothermal therapy led to significant improvement in sitting tolerance times and physical function. Bodily pain and physical function scores improved significantly between the one-year and two-year observation points.

In addition, all the SF-36 subscales demonstrated statistically significant improvements in quality of life.
Spine 2002;27:966-973. "Intradiscal Electrothermal Treatment for Chronic Discogenic Low Back Pain: Prospective Outcome Study With a Minimum 2-Year Follow-Up"

E-Mail this DGReview to a colleague

To print, use this version