A procedure that uses radio waves to treat chronic low back pain provided long-lasting relief to a small group of patients, researchers report. Called intradiscal biacuplasty (IDB), the procedure uses two water-cooled needles to blast radiofrequency energy at the nerve fibers within and around a spinal disc that's begun to degenerate but has not ruptured, explained the lead researcher. "Basically, you're destroying the nerve fibers, which will lead to the elimination of pain," he said.
The lead researcher is a chronic pain management specialist at a Hospital in Toronto. A year out from treatment, half of the patients who received IDB in the study said they still were experiencing significant pain reduction, the researcher and his colleagues reported. The treatment is specifically to help people with discogenic back pain; the pain related to discs that are deteriorating but have not…
