Interventional Pain Management
According to the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians, interventional pain management involves the use of minimally invasive techniques designed to diagnose and treat painful conditions. Interventional pain medicine often utilizes a multidisciplinary approach to provide a full range of treatments and services for patients suffering from chronic and/or acute pain. Goals of interventional pain management include the relief, reduction, or management of pain and resulting improvement for patients’ overall quality of life through minimally invasive techniques. Interventional pain management strives to help patients return to their everyday activities quickly and without reliance on medications.
Techniques and treatments commonly used in interventional pain management include the injection of anesthetic agents and/or steroids around peripheral nerves, into the spaces outside and inside of the dura mater, into fluid-filled chambers in the brain, into major plexi, and into the articular surfaces in the back; use of radiofrequency lesion production to inactivate nerves; use of freezing to inactivate nerves; use of Laser light to complete injuries to the Dorsal Root Entry Zone (DREZ) after traumatic avulsion; and implantation of medication delivery systems and spinal cord stimulators.