Articles: back-pain.
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Scar formation in the epidural space due to previous operations or presence of inflammation in and around the nerve roots or spinal nerves in patients with back pain or radiculopathy have been documented in patients suffering from spinal pain. Several methods targeting the scar formation and inflammation have been used. Epidural neuroplasty is one of the recently used methods. ⋯ The most commonly seen complications of epidural neuroplasty are due to the procedure or the drugs administered. Complications relating to the procedure are usually seen immediately, while complications relating to drug administration are typically seen later. In this article, we discuss not only the possible complications during epidural neuroplasty, but their prevention and management as well.
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Previous research exploring the relationship between litigation status and the symptoms of the plaintiff has been inconsistent and limited by methodological difficulties. This longitudinal study addressed many of the methodological shortcomings of previous research and examined the relationship between litigation status, employment, depression, pain and disability over the duration of the compensation process. Two hundred chronic back pain participants were selected from patients who attended an initial assessment interview at a pain centre. ⋯ On the other hand participants who were litigating scored higher on all the measures than did participants who were not litigating. There was a significant time effect on all measures but this was qualified on some measures by the interactions of time with litigation status and work status. The present research further demonstrated that both litigation and employment were significant factors influencing recovery from injury.
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Ieee T Inf Technol B · Dec 2002
ReviewTechnology improvements for image-guided and minimally invasive spine procedures.
This paper reports on technology developments aimed at improving the state of the art for image-guided minimally invasive spine procedures. Back pain is a major health problem with serious economic consequences. Minimally invasive procedures to treat back pain are rapidly growing in popularity due to improvements in technique and the substantially reduced trauma to the patient versus open spinal surgery. ⋯ The discussion includes intraoperative computerized tomography (CT) imaging, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)/CT image registration, three-dimensional (3-D) visualization, optical localization, and robotics for percutaneous instrument placement. Finally, the paper concludes by presenting several representative clinical applications: biopsy, vertebroplasty, nerve and facet blocks, and shunt placement. The program presented here is a first step to developing the physician-assist systems of the future, which will incorporate visualization, tracking, and robotics to enable the precision placement and manipulation of instruments with minimal trauma to the patient.
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Facet and sacroiliac joint pathology are not an uncommon cause of back or neck pain. Imaging-guided techniques provide ready access to these synovial joints. Percutaneous injection of the facet or sacroiliac joints yields important diagnostic information as to whether or not the interrogated joint is involved in the patient's pain syndrome. The injection of a steroid-anesthetic mixture into these joints is capable of providing significant, albeit temporary, pain relief.