Spinal nerve cauterization

[wordgirl]

Hello,
I suffer from mild spinal stenosis and arthritis, coupled with severe degenerative disk disease, which has led to bulging and inflamed disks from T-7 through T-10. I've already had two cortisone injections into the facet joints, and neither gave me any pain relief for longer than a day.

My doctor now thinks cauterizing some of those spinal nerves might be beneficial, but I have several concerns. What are the success rates with this procedure? If my two prior injections failed, what's the chance this procedure will work? Are the any negative side effects to consider?

I appreciate your help!

[joan128]

Where is the answer to the spinal nerve cauterization question?

[fpainestam]

Hi, wordgirl/joan.

I'll try to help--I've had both procedures.

First, cortisone into the facet joints: like you, I experienced relief for only about 24 hours.  Not anywhere near enough to be worthwhile.

Second, cauterization:  I'm pretty sure that this is the same as radio frequency ablation ("RFA"), which I tried quite recently.  Again, what relief there was was very short term.  Others have told me that RFA is generally most effective when applied to patients whose pain condition started recently.  Mine goes back about a dozen years.

Having said that, you don't have a lot to lose by trying it, although I found the procedure itself to be rather uncomfortable.

Good luck!  Frank Paine

[Tuckamore]

Hello Joan,

Welcome to the Pain Management Forum. The post that you asked your question on is a very old thread from 2007. I do not know where the responses are or if there were an. This forum is the Pain Management Forum for CP sufferers. We support one another and offer our opinions based on our experiences and for some our educations. There are no physicians here.

I can tell you that Spinal Nerve catheterization is a procedure where the physician uses a temperature controlled heat source inside a thin catheter to deliver high heat to the effected area. It is my understanding that there are several areas that this can be done. In the case of the spine the heat will cauterize the small nerve fibers and blood vessels, and shrink the material that makes up the annulus. The shrinkage improves disc function and the cauterization of the nerve fibers relieves pain. This procedure is performed only on patients who have failed conservative therapy such as epidural steroid injections, physical therapy, and medications.

You are wise to educate yourself to the procedure and ask many questions. There are success stories and there are others that have not had as much success. Much depends on the individual's disease anatomy as well as the experience and skill of the delivering practitioner.

If you have specific questions please feel free to post them and we members will do there best to respond.  Best of luck to you.

Tuck

[rily]

Understand how you feel I have had a hard time with builging disc in my neck I have had shots but they only help for a short time,maybe two weeks if I am lucky.they can only do a series of three shots after that IM not sure what is next.Heis taking about surgery,but if it helps im up for anything.Anyway good luck to everyone.   rily

[Spydede]

I tried the steroid injections with NO results. i have  a pretty significant case of scoliosis.. several pinched nerves, sciatica etc... I had the cauterization(4) and it DID help. I just had my second round and i am waiting. The pain can be worse for a week or so then gradually improves. I have been happy with my results. it's also pretty much a painless procedure. I hope that you have a reputable pain management doctor. They are usually anesthesiologists who also do PM. They also know more about the spine than any other MD...
I didnt have any anesthesia during childbirth but i assume that it's pretty similar to an epidural...I wish you pain relief!