Center for Medical Excellence, Inc.
Interventional Management
For some people, finding pain relief can seem like a lofty goal after numerous back-and-forth visits between primary care provider and specialist or undergoing ineffective prescription or over-the-counter drug therapies. Advanced interventional pain management may be the solution to a better quality of life. Interventional pain management utilizes a multidisciplinary approach to provide a full range of treatments and services for patients suffering from acute and chronic pain conditions. Interventional pain management techniques are used for a variety of purposes: diagnostic, to determine the source of pain; therapeutic, to treat painful conditions; prognostic, to predict outcome of other interventional treatments; and preemptive, to prevent other painful states that could result from original pain conditions. The following interventional treatment options are available.
| Type | Application |
| Epidural Steroid Injections (Interlaminar vs. Transforminal) | Medications injected into the epidural space (inside the spinal canal but outside the dural membrane which covers the nerve roots) to relieve pain and/or diagnose a condition. |
| Sacroiliac Joint Injection | Medications injected into the sacroiliac joint which is formed between the sacrum (bottom of the spine) and the pelvis, to relieve pain and inflammation. |
| Nerve Root/Medial Branch Blocks/Radiofrequency Rhizotomy | Medications injected into the spinal nerve root. In the case of medial branch blocks, the nerves which are sending pain signals from the facet joints are blocked. Radiofrequency rhizotomy uses highly localized heat to destroy only the nerves that are sending unnecessary pain signals. |
| Spinal Cord and Peripheral Nerve Stimulators | Electrical impulses used to block pain signals from traveling to the brain . |
| Intrathecal Drug Pumps | Very low dosages of pain medication(s) are delivered directly to the fluid around the spinal cord through a spinal catheter. This also minimizes potential adverse effects. |
Other pain management procedures include epidurolysis in which scar tissue around entrapped nerves in the epidural space of the spine is dissolved so that the cerebral spinal fluid and potential medications can reach the affected areas. Provocative discography involves injecting contrast into the intervertebral disc under x-ray guidance to determine if the patient has pain from the disc.
