Spine-Pain

Chronic Pain Therapy: Spinal Cord Stimulation - Video

Beth Israel Offers Inside Look at Chronic Pain Therapy

OR-Live.com webcast February 6, 2008 at 6:00 PM From Beth Israel Medical Center, New York, NY As more and more Americans are working harder, living longer and looking to remain active, chronic pain has become a main focus in today’s world of pain …

“The ideal candidate for spinal cord stimulation is someone who suffers from chronic pain who has not responded to primary medications, therapies or surgery,” says Dr. Sheu. “Once evaluated by a qualified pain specialist, an appropriate patient can undergo an outpatient ‘trial’ to experience spinal cord stimulation for themselves and determine if the relief is significant enough to proceed to a longer-lasting treatment”.

With spinal cord stimulation, the electrical impulses are delivered through a lead, a specialized, insulated wire that is implanted within the spinal canal. These electrical impulses block the pain signal traveling to the brain, providing lasting pain relief for the patient.

The Spinal Cord Stimulator implant surgery is performed by Dr. Robert Sheu, Director of the Pain Division in the Department of Pain Medicine and Palliative Care at Beth Israel Medical Center.

A Medtronic RestoredAdvance Spinal Cord Stimulator is implanted in the patient.

The video starts off interviewing two females who received the Spinal Cord Stimulator.

The video has footage of the Spinal Cord Stimulator surgery.

The patient is awake during the implant surgery.

The video time is approximately an hour.

http://www.or-live.com/bethisrael/1867/event_flash/rnh.cfm??

Spine: Indications for Lumbar Fusions

UW Medicine Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine
28 min 35 sec - Jul 8, 2007

This video is one of a series of excerpts of a regional symposium discussing indications and surgical treatment for spine conditions. The … all » presenters outline indications, limitations and potential of fusion surgery, as well as review recent developments in the field.

googleplayer.swf?docid=4036068355330664408

Last year, on the television program ‘Mystery Diagnosis’ was a case of a woman who went for years without a diagnosis for her debilitating chronic pain. Finally, a neurologist in L.A. diagnosed her with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS).

I found the episode very informative.

The following is a link to view this television episode on the blinkx.tv web site.

Discovery Health’s “Mystery Diagnosis”: RSD (Part 1 of 2)
  
Discovery Health’s “Mystery Diagnosis”: RSD (Part 1 of 2)

Cynthia Toussaint of For Grace discusses her life with RSD. Originally aired on Discovery Health in October 2005 (currently still running)

http://www.blinkx.com/burl?blinkxreferrer=getJSOpenLink&v=JD-cHvPpoAlRBPCPHSMaeA

The following is an excerpt from ‘Sciatica Solutions Diagnosis, Treatment, and Cure of Spinal and Piriformis Problems’ the book by Loren Fishman, MD and Carol Ardman

Nerve Damage and Nerve Regrowth

There are three types of nerve damage that can be identified with an EMG or an SSEP, and the nerves have different possibilites for regrowth and recovery.

Sometimes the nerve is just compressed or stretched and temporarily put out of commission, and in time it repairs itself and conducts impulses normally again. It’s called neuropraxia. If neuropraxia is present, stimulating the nerve won’t get the muscle to react perfectly, or send a full volley of sensory signals toward the brain at normal speed. But the nerve fiber is still alive. A patient with neuropraxia can usually expect a complete recovery without treatment in one week to three months.

The second kind of damage occurs when the nerve itself is severed inside its protective, fatty sheath, but the sheath remains intact. The nerve fiber will eventually regenerate. Characteristic signals of axonotmesis–the severing of the little nerve fiber in the middle of the sheath–appear on the EMG. The normal regrowth is about an inch a month.

The third, more serious type of damage is where the sheath surrounding the fiber and the fiber itself have been severed and the fiber itself have been severed–cut in tow. When this happens, of course there is no conduction of impulses along the nerve. In this case regrowth is problematical.

Measuring regeneration of injured nerve fibers with an EMG helps predict future recovery.

July 6, 2005 - Researchers at Stanford University have found a new way to look at pain. Using real time magnetic imaging, they can see pain in the brain as it happens. The researchers see this new technology as the Holy Grail of pain research. But it may be some time before it is ready for mainstream medicine.

The link below has a 5 minute audio clip.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4731172

It’s now possible to look at the brain and see exactly where it’s active. This is done with a sophisticated brain scan called functional magnetic resonance imaging or fMRI.

It might become possible to determine the source of pain through a functional MRI.

Has anyone received a functional magnetic resonance imaging?