• Clinical Pain
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.142-146
• /
• 2019

This is a case report of the provocative discographic findings before and after focal selective coagulation of the major annular fissure using intradiscal navigable catheter. A 46-year-old woman had a 30-month history of axial low back pain and magnetic resonance imaging findings suspicious for painful L4/5 disc. The provocative discography confirmed painful disc before coagulation. The final electrode tip position in the coagulation procedure was at the largest fissure within the outer annular margin identified through the discography. Six months after the successful coagulation therapy, inadvertently performed discography resulted in decreased pressure rise over time. Neither evoked pain nor change in the integrity of outer annulus as compared with the previous results was reported. Such an interventional method has not been reported previously, and the analytic results suggest that it may be possible to relocate the pressure of the entire nucleus pulposus only by focal selective coagulation of the fissure.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
• /
• 2007.05a
• /
• pp.378-383
• /
• 2007

As the Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) is developed, an interventional procedure becomes the major of the spine surgery in the world. Despite of the use of the expensive medical equipments, the success chance of the nucleoplasty is about 30%. The reason is that the shape of the cannular needle is similar to that of the conventional injector and looks like the straight. Because the tip of these straight needles is not able to reach in the vicinity of the disc bulging or the protrusion, which are the cause of the low back pain and because the far indirect plasma discharge results in the decompression, the nucleoplasty has the limit. Many incurable diseases has not been solved due to the unexistence of the advanced technique for the MIS human body cannula device. If 3-D direction controllable cannular catheter (whose direction is accurately controlled after inserting into the bodies to cure the lesion) is developed, it is expected that new devised cannular catheter can cure many incurable diseases simultaneously. Therefore, the aims of this research are to develop the new devised cannular catheter of SMA direction controller for the medical situation, which has been produced through many previous trial-error procedures, and to produce the commercial medical device.

• Annals of Clinical Neurophysiology
• /
• v.10 no.2
• /
• pp.83-97
• /
• 2008

Cervical and thoracic radiculopathies are among the most common causes of neck pain. The most common causes are cervical disc herniation and cervical spondylosis in patients with cervical radiculopathy, and diabetes mellitus and thoracic disc herniation in thoracic radiculopathy. A thorough history, physical examination, and testing that includes electrodiagnostic examination and imaging studies may distinguish radiculopathy from other pain sources. Although various electrodiagnostic examinations may help evaluate radiculopathy, needle electromyography is the most important, sensitive, and specific method. Outcome studies of conservative treatments have shown varying results and have not been well controlled or systematic. When legitimate incapacitating symptoms continue despite conservative treatment attempts, more invasive spinal procedures and intradiscal treatment may be appropriate. Surgery has been shown to have excellent clinical outcomes in patients with disc extrusion and neurological deficits. However, patients with minimal disc herniation have fair or poor surgical outcomes. In addition, conventional open disc surgery entails various inadvertent surgical related risks. Although there has not yet been a non-surgical interventional procedure developed with the therapeutic efficacy of open surgery, conservative procedures can offer substantial benefits, are less invasive, and avoid surgical complications. While more invasive procedures may be appropriate when conservative treatment fails, prospective studies evaluating cervical and thoracic radiculopathies treatment options would help guide practitioners toward optimally cost-effective patient evaluation and care.