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Newswise — Doctors from the UT Southwestern Spine Center are now offering a minimally-invasive ablation procedure to offer relief for lower back discomfort caused due to injury or degeneration of spinal endplates.
Intracept, which is a radiofrequency nerve ablation procedure, is the sole FDA-approved procedure to treat vertebrogenic back pain. back pain. G. Sunny Sharma, M.D., Assistant Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and Ankit Patel, M.D., Associate Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, who specialize in the interventional spine and musculoskeletal therapy have begun using the procedure earlier in the year.
“It is an honor our team is able to offer this outpatient procedure that is minimally invasive which can offer lasting relief from chronic low back pain , without the need for a long recovery time or spinal equipment,” said Dr. Sharma.
Research has proven the pain relief can begin within weeks and can last for. In one study lasting 12 months that included 64 percent of patients treated with Intracept experienced an over 50 percent reduction in pain and 30% of them said that the pain had gone away completely. Nearly no injections of steroid were required in the time following ablation.
Intracept, which was developed through Relievant Medsystems Inc., is a treatment for the basivertebral nerve (BVN) which traverses the vertebrae. It targets the vertebral endplates and bilayers of cartilage as well as bone that separates discs between the intervertebral and adjacent vertebrae. The procedure involves ablation of the BVN to prevent signals to the affected area back into the brain. During this process, the main spinal cord from which the other nerves originate remains in good condition.
The Dr. Sharma said chronic low back pain is among the main reasons for disability. Although the Intracept procedure targets pain that is coming through the endplate Dr. Sharma warned that many patients suffer from multiple sources of back discomfort, such as disc pain and joint pain that may require additional treatments.
Both interventionists are enthused by the early feedback received from patients.
“Before this procedure was made accessible it was a struggle to offer a viable treatment alternative for my patients who were suffering from chronic back discomfort due to degenerative endplates,” said Dr. Patel. “Basivertebral nerve ablation is a new and promising procedure which I am thrilled to provide to my patients. Intracept is a great option for my patients attain an improved quality of life, decrease the dependence on pain medication and also avoid the need for corrective spine procedure.”
They both look forward to tracking the outcomes and conducting research on this procedure to further aid in the development of its role within your spine practice.
about UT Southwestern Medical Center
UT Southwestern, one of the top educational medical centres, blends cutting-edge biomedical research and exceptional medical care and educational. The faculty of the institution has won six Nobel Prizes. It also comprises 26 of members from the National Academy of Sciences, 17 members of the National Academy of Medicine, and 14 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators. The faculty that is full-time and totals over 2,900 is responsible for cutting-edge medical breakthroughs and is dedicated to rapidly translating research-driven science to the development of new therapies for clinical use. UT Southwestern physicians provide care in more than 80 specialties for over 100,000 patients admitted to hospitals. They also handle more than 360,000 patients in emergency rooms and manage more than 4 million outpatient visits per year.
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