Treating back pain and injuries non-surgically can be a less invasive way to feel better without complicated and risky surgery. Under the direction of fellowship-trained Neuroradiologist David Lloyd, M.D., Vascular and Interventional Specialists of Prescott (VISP), doctors perform minimally invasive, non-surgical back treatments that relieve pain and may help people avoid surgery.
The doctors at VISP are all fellowship-trained radiologists who are experts at using image guidance such as MRI, CT scans, ultrasound, and X-ray to safely and accurately pinpoint areas that need treatment.
Dr. Lloyd said, “Sometimes the proper and most accurate treatment of back pain requires not just a knowledge of the patient’s clinical presentation, but the ability to tie that presentation with the imaging findings, not to mention knowing which imaging studies would be most helpful to ferret out the cause of the pain. As radiologists, we are best equipped and trained to add that necessary imaging expertise to maximize outcomes.”
Lloyd continued, “The procedures we offer are minimally invasive and require no general anesthesia. So, there is less recovery time, less post-op pain, and less risk. They are safer than surgery. Sometimes surgery is still necessary in certain instances, but it should always be a last resort.”
Under image-guidance such as MRI and x-ray, Lloyd performs the following treatments for back pain:
- Selective Nerve Root Blocks (SNRB)
- Facet Injections
- Paraspinous Joint Injections
- Lumbar Epidural Steroid Injections
- Discography
- Spine Biopsy
- Vertebral Cement Augmentation (VCA)
- Synovial Cyst Aspiration
A patient can receive up to three injections a year and injection success rates vary.
“Injections have about a 70 percent success rate in well-selected candidates. The degree and duration of pain relief varies from patient to patient and from injection to injection. There really is no way to accurately predict the success rate – it’s a wait and see type of thing,” said Lloyd. “I prefer to let each injection last as long as possible and only inject again once the previous injection begins wearing off. Sometimes the first injection will last awhile.”
Lloyd added, “Although I have seen an injection provide pain relief indefinitely or up to a year, most injections are considered ‘successful’ if the patient receives relief anywhere from three weeks to four months. It is also important that patients receive physical therapy in conjunction with the injections. The literature has shown doing the two together are more effective than either alone.”
Although the injections are not necessarily a substitute for surgery, Lloyd believes they can “potentially provide the pain relief needed for the patient to tolerate his/her body taking the time necessary to recover on its own with the help of conservative measures rather than rushing into surgery.”
Lloyd said, “Surgery may be a disproportionate reaction when injections are all that is needed.”
Sometimes patients may only need pain relief instead of permanent anatomical correction. However, if a patient does require surgery, the injections can “painlessly bridge the time to surgery.”
Lloyd treats people of all ages. “Vertebroplasty patients are almost all elderly, but patients presenting for steroid injection procedures are split evenly among all [age] groups.” QCBN
By Kristen Dicker
For more information about back pain treatment options, please visit vispdocs.com or contact Dr. Lloyd’s office at 928-771-8477 (VISP) to schedule an appointment.