Thermolesion removes chronic pain when everything fails and doctors spread their hands helplessly, and you lose your will to live because of the pain. Find out about the method of treating pain with a needle that generates heat. What pains does thermolesion eliminate? Is it effective? What are the complications after the thermolesion treatment?

Thermolesionis a modernmethod of treating pain . For a long time it was believed that patients should endure any pain without complaining, and take medication as a last resort. It is now believed that prolonged pain is harmful and a serious disease in itself. It negatively affects the psyche of the sufferer, disturbs the ability to work, lowers life activity, and also worsens the he alth condition, reducing the body's immunity. To win over pain, you need to know as much as possible about it. Then you can choose the appropriate therapy. The easiest way is to administer painkillers. But when using them for a long time, additional ailments of the digestive system usually appear. Modern medicine uses invasive methods, including blockages of the sensory nerves and stimulation of the nerves of the spinal cord or the brain.

Thermolesion: preparation for the treatment

The decision to perform thermolesion is not made during one visit, there are at least several of them waiting for us. First, you need to perform precise and complex diagnostic tests. A lot of attention is also paid to establishing good contact with the patient and obtaining from him full information about the nature of the pain he is experiencing. For this purpose, each patient receives a special and detailed questionnaire to fill in, which allows the doctor to get to know him much better and determine his pain limits. The next stage of preparation for thermolesion is general and neurological examination, as well as X-ray of the spine and basic analyzes (morphology, ESR). Then a diagnostic, also known as prognostic, block is performed. After it, for four weeks, the patient must daily record the occurrence of pain and its severity. The pain intensity is assessed on an arbitrary scale from 1 to 10. One means weak, and ten - difficult to bear. The sick person decides for himself what pain he cannot bear. If the blockade gives good results (and not always), thermolesion can be used.

According to an expertDr. Małgorzata Pernak de Gast, MD, specialist anaesthesiologist from the Pain Medicine Center in Warsaw

Thermolesionuses high-frequency current to switch off pain-conducting nerve fragments. In short, thermolesion can eliminate pain without permanently damaging the nerve tissue. Most thermolesion treatments are performed under local anesthesia. The exceptions are when you need to pierce the skull. Then we give a short general anesthesia. It is not needed because of the pain that may occur, but to prevent the patient from moving his head during the procedure. The needle should be inserted very precisely, between the seams of the skull. In order to get to the trigeminal nerve, for example, you have to put it through a tiny, only a few millimeters hole. Only when I cross this magical place, I can be sure that the treatment will be successful.

Thermolesion: the course of the treatment

The length of the needle depends on the injection site. The shortest is used for puncturing the neck and the longest is used to get to the sympathetic nerve near the spine. The blunt end is connected by a wire to a high wave generator. A canal runs along the entire length of the needle and ends with a cannula at the mouth. It allows you to perform several actions after a single needle insertion. This route is used to administer anesthetics or contrast agents when making a diagnosis, and agents that will "turn off" the nerves for a while. Above all, the needle is the electrode that produces healing heat. Each procedure is assisted by an anaesthesiologist who constantly monitors the patient's heart. The patient is lying on the table. The place where the needle has been inserted is clearly visible on the monitor screen. It is connected to a generator that produces a stimulating (excitation) current. The given contrast facilitates the observation of the nerve. If the patient reacts to a sensation, the needle is in the right place. But the involuntary movements or convulsions already indicate that the needle is near the so-called motor nerve zones and should be withdrawn. Thanks to this, damage to these nerves is excluded, tantamount to their irreversible destruction, which leads to paralysis. After inserting the needle in the right place, the doctor administers (through the cannula) anesthesia. After that, the needle is connected to a generator that sends an electric current of a certain frequency. There is a slight coagulation (truncated protein) in the nerve, but its tissues are not destroyed. They can regenerate. Only the conduction of pain stimuli is interrupted. The patient does not feel this moment. The treatment takes approximately 20 minutes on average. It brings the effect for about half a year. It can be repeated without restriction. It is worth adding that thermolesion does not cure the underlying disease,it only removes the pain. It is not necessary to eliminate some of its types. Sometimes its opposite, i.e. nerve stimulation, is enough. During it, the nerves are stimulated in an attempt to restore their original functions, e.g. conduction of sensation. In thermolesion, the nerves are turned off.

Worth knowing

The position of the electrode is additionally checked by motor stimulation, i.e. observation of motor activity after stimulation with a current of 2-5 Hz, and sensory stimulation with a current of 50-100 Hz. If the electrode is well positioned, the neurodestruction procedure is performed, giving the current for 60-120 seconds (continuous thermolesion) and bringing the temperature to 60-80 ° C. In pulsed thermolesion, the needle does not generate high temperature, but conducts radio waves, reducing the activity of pain receptors.

Pain that can be eliminated by thermolesion

  • derived from the spine and cranial nerves, nerve roots, sympathetic nervous system
  • resulting from vascular diseases
  • of the trigeminal nerve
  • caused by some oncological diseases, such as pancreatic cancer, stomach cancer, esophageal cancer - when pain relief depends on turning off the nerves of the visceral (solar) plexus
  • osteoporotic and degenerative

Thermolesion: contraindications

Thermolesion is not used during acute diseases and immediately after them. After a heart attack or stroke, you need to wait about three months. Old age is not an obstacle to perform the procedure.

Thermolesion does not help with neoplasms with multiple metastases; in neuropathic pains, when the nerve tissue is damaged and its functions are disturbed, for example in herpes zoster.

Important

What are the functions of nerves?

Sensory nerves conduct impulses from various organs of the body to the brain and spinal cord. Motor nerves do the opposite - they conduct impulses from the brain and core to the muscles. There are also those that conduct impulses from the brain to internal organs, so they direct the work of the heart, respiratory and digestive systems.

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