Thermal denervation of an intervertebral disc for relief of back pain
First Claim
1. A method of treating back or neck pain by cooling an intervertebral disc, including:
- (a) inserting a probe into said intervertebral disc, said probe being adapted to be connected to an external apparatus which can enable cooling of said probe so as to cool said intervertebral disc;
(b) connecting said external apparatus to said probe, causing cooling of said intervertebral disc, which thereby causes relief of said back or neck pain.
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Accused Products
Abstract
This continuation-in-part patent application follows the original parent patent application which described a general method of denervation of the nerves in and around the intervertebral disc to relieve back pain using heating from a probe which is inserted within the intervertebral disc. The probe in the original application can be connected to a power source to deliver energy to the disc, thereby heating the disc and denervating the nerves associated with the disc, with consequent relief of various kinds of discogenic pain. This continuation-in-part illustrates other embodiments of the invention described in the parent patent application. In particular, it describes other embodiments of heating methods to denervate the disc, as well as thermal cooling or cryogenic methods to denervate the disc. These methods can be either percutaneous or carried out during open interoperative intervention of the disc. Furthermore, we describe in this continuation-in-part an embodiment of the impedance-detecting probes and shafts which were generically described in the parent patent application. The impedance measuring method and devices can help in ascertaining when the thermal probe is in the proper position within the intervertebral disc to make the thermal lesion.
624 Citations
7 Claims
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1. A method of treating back or neck pain by cooling an intervertebral disc, including:
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(a) inserting a probe into said intervertebral disc, said probe being adapted to be connected to an external apparatus which can enable cooling of said probe so as to cool said intervertebral disc; (b) connecting said external apparatus to said probe, causing cooling of said intervertebral disc, which thereby causes relief of said back or neck pain. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. A method of treating back or neck pain of the patient by heating an intervertebral disc including:
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(a) inserting a probe into said disc, said probe being adapted to be connected to an external laser source which can deliver laser power through said probe to said disc so as to heat said disc; (b) applying said laser power from said external laser source to said disc via said probe, causing heating of said disc which thereby causes relief of said back or neck pain. - View Dependent Claims (4)
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5. A probe system adapted for heating the intervertebral disc of a patient, including:
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(a) a cannula having a near end and a far end, and having an open end at the cannula'"'"'s far end and having a substantially radiolucent cannula hub at the near end of said cannula; (b) a stylet having a near end and a far end, said stylet fitting into said cannula so that the stylet'"'"'s far end occludes said open end at said cannula'"'"'s far end, said stylet having a substantially radiolucent stylet hub, and said stylet having an electrically uninsulated impedance-monitoring tip at said stylet'"'"'s far end which will contact tissue of the patient in the region of said cannula'"'"'s far end when said cannula is inserted into said patient, said stylet having a stylet connection means at said stylet'"'"'s near end which is adapted to be connected to said impedance-monitoring tip and to be connected to external impedance-monitoring apparatus;
whereby, when said stylet is inserted into said cannula, and said cannula is inserted into said disc, said radiolucent hubs enable substantially unobstructed guidance of said cannula and said stylet by X-ray images of said cannula'"'"'s far end within said disc, and whereby the electrical impedance of said tissue near said cannula'"'"'s far end can be monitored so as to determine when said cannula'"'"'s far end is properly within said disc;(c) a power delivery means adapted to be connected to said cannula and to an external power apparatus which enables power to be transferred from said external power apparatus to said cannula'"'"'s far end, and which thereby causes heating of said disc when said cannula'"'"'s far end is within said disc, thereby to relieve the pain of said patient related to said disc. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7)
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Specification