June 17, 1999
Utah doctors are heating up damaged discs in the spine - almost to the
boiling point - to relieve back pain.
But researchers believe the revolutionary procedure may be doing even more
to actually
heal the injury.
Science Specialist Ed Yeates has the story.
Back pain is a leading cause of lost time at work, second only to the
common cold.
That's why it's not unusual to see so many people at this rehab center
every day recovering from back problems - patients like Scott Shelby.
"There've been days when you just don't want to move and other days when you
feel like you could go and run a marathon," he says.
But just across the plaza doctors are trying a brand new procedure - so
new, only two patients have had it so far.
Strangely, the treatment involves heat - applied almost to the boiling
point.
In the anatomy of our spine, it's the cushion-like tissue called a disc which
responds well to heat therapy.
Physicians at Cottonwood Hospital's Spine Institute are heating up
affected discs with radio frequency energy.
A catheter is inserted into the disc. A small wire then wraps around the
outer edges applying the heat.
It appears not only to seal ruptures in the disc, but shrink and heal
it as well.
Dr. Terry Sawchuk, of the Intermountain Spine Institute at Cottonwood Hospital,
says, "The actual heating time of the disc is 17 minutes. The time of
preparation and placing the catheter and things may vary anywhere from 30 to 60
minutes for one disc."
Patients still need a lot of physical therapy after the proceedure. But
Karla Gibbs believes it's worth it. That's why she'll become the third patient
to undergo the procedure next week.
"I golf and get out in the sun a lot. And I'm tired of being in pain to go out
and do it. So I want to - I'm very optimistic," she says.
Dr. Sawchuk hopes intradiscal electro-thermal therapy - as it's called -
might become an alternative to major surgery, like spinal fusion.
With a 70 percent success rate in other parts of the country,
physicians say the heat procedure
is an option
for patients who are not benefiting from conventional therapy.
