Rhizotomy to treat a herniated disc
Written by:The cervical disc herniation and lumbar disc herniation produces enormous pain to those who suffer, so he constantly investigates techniques and treatments to alleviate the pain. A very effective technique is the rhizolysis. Basically it is a minimally invasive technique for the treatment of pain, both cranial and spinal, consisting of radiofrequency heat application in the root or nerve roots affected. Its primary objective is to eliminate or minimize the back pain or neck pain in those cases in which the diagnosis, after making the relevant examinations as resonances, tacs, etc., can establish that it is not necessary use more aggressive techniques.
Therefore, it can be applied to all patients with neck pain, dorsal or lumbar that are the product of facet joint degeneration. It is important to make a good selection of patients properly diagnosed with clinical studies and complementary exams, where this treatment requires the application obtains an obvious improvement on a percentage between 70 and 90 percent of cases.
One of the great advantages of the rhizolysis– both lumbar rhizotomy as cervical- is that hospitalization of the patient is not required ( it is an outpatient technique ) as we do, again, is to apply RF in cases of pain due to disc degeneration or herniated discs, provided that they present a motor affectation and pain the patient is due to degeneration of the spinal joint.
Minimum Risk and immediate return to daily life
side effects are minimal or practically nil, in selected cases in which this technique can be applied. The only thing that could happen is that an infection by puncture or hematoma localized occur, but in all patients in whom treatment was applied, the benefits always outweigh the possible side effects. Also, keep in mind that this is a technique that can be repeated, each time improving performance and prolonging the time of decrease or elimination of pain.
Regarding the return to everyday life, we must remember that it is a technique that does not require hospitalization and, moreover, only needs local anesthesia. That is, the patient can be discharged and resume normal activities almost immediately.