This 39 year old wife of a palliative pain physician sought endoscopic annuloplastic care after failed non-surgical pain management care. A visualized thermal modulation may be the next step in MIS treatment.
The ultimate result depends on tears healing after removal of interposed disc and annulus healing. Is nucleus augmentation an answer? Replication Medical’s GelStik™ is getting good results in pilot studies.
Related Article: White Paper – Discogenic Pain
View Related Presentation: Gelstik™ Implantation: An Intradiscal Hydrogel for Nucleus Augmentation
This 49 year old cement mason injured his back at work and was unable to return to work due to severe back pain and persistent sciatica. His insurance carrier terminated his claim.
The insurance company sent him for an Independent Medical Examination (IME) by a prominent spine surgeon who opined that the worker only sustained a sprain/strain injury.
The discography done later by Dr. Yeung positively identified the annual tear. The patient was forced to pay cash for the treatment.
Patients are inappropriately denied thermal modulation treatment for injuries causing annular tears that produce toxic concordant pain. Patients are inappropriately denied care by IME surgeons who claim these tears ‘do not exist’.
Toxic annular tears exist and explains the disabling back pain and sciatica experienced by private patients as well as injured workers. This patient was denied treatment because of an uninformed personal opinion contrary to the facts.
