Medicus, Vol. 23 No. 1 Fenomen boli, 2014.
Review article
Minimally Invasive Interventions in Pain Management
Ivan Radoš
Abstract
Interventional techniques that target specific nociceptive transmission sites can reduce pain without having the systemic impact that oral medications have on other organ systems. Neural blockade with local anaesthetic of nerve fibers in the cervical and lumbar sympathetic chain is a common therapeutic technique used in the treatment of complex regional pain syndrome of the upper and lower extremities. As patients age, bone and connective tissue components of the spine are subject to a wide array of degenerative processes that contribute to chronic pain, including but not limited to, vertebral fractures, disc herniations and ruptures, and hypertrophy and sclerosis of facets joints and ligamentum flavum. The most important interventional pain management target within the vertebral foramen is the dorsal root ganglion. The primary afferent neurons in the ganglion and the main link between peripheral nociceptors and the processing centres of the central nervous system. Injury of these nerves is common from mechanical trauma resulting from lateralized herniated disc or spondylolisthesis, chemical irritation from leakage of nucleus pulposus and injury caused by infectious agents such as herpes zoster. Electrical stimulation can provide effective analgesia by targeting various spinal targets including the spinal cord, nerve roots, and dorsal root ganglia. Destruction of specific spinal neural targets with either neurolytic solution or thermal probes provides long-term relief for a limited number of pain conditions.
Keywords
chronic pain; minimally invasive pain treatment; neurolysis; radiofrequency lesions
Hrčak ID:
122392
URI
Publication date:
22.5.2014.
Visits: 3.424 *