Our physician at Park West Pain Management in Manhattan, New York and Staten Island, NY offers several treatment options for discogenic back pain. One treatment option is the IDET (intradiscal electrothermal annuloplasty) procedure.

Intradiscal electrothermal annuloplasty therapy (IDET) is a minimally invasive outpatient surgical procedure performed by our doctor to treat patients with chronic back pain originating from their lumbar disc. The procedure is performed most commonly on patients with one identified disc as the cause of their back pain. This procedure is offered as a minimally invasion option to single level spinal fusion.

To begin with, you must fit the criteria to be considered for this procedure. The IDET procedure involves passing a flexible catheter through a needle into your painful disc. Wires inside the catheter then heat the disc wall, toughening as well as desensitizing the disc, resulting in the loss of your pain. Before an IDET procedure, you will be given a sedative and a local anesthetic. Using "live" X-ray imaging (fluoroscopy), a doctor inserts a hollow needle containing a flexible catheter and heating element into the spinal disc. The catheter is positioned in a circle around the inside of the disc, and is then slowly heated to 90 °C. The heat is meant to kill the nerve fibers and toughen the disc tissue, sealing any small tears. Antibiotics will be given preoperatively prophylactically. You should not experience discomfort from the intradiscal electrothermal annuloplasty (IDET) procedure.

If you are interested in an and evaluation for IDET (intradiscal electrothermal annuloplasty) to manage your pain or treat your back pain, the spine doctors of the Park West Pain Management of Manhattan, New York and Staten Island, New York, we would be happy to see you for a consultation and help you learn about the treatment options available to you.