Pain physician
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Lumbar canal stenosis is a common source of chronic low back and leg pain. Minimally Invasive Lumbar Decompression (mild(R)) is a new minimally invasive treatment for pain relief from symptomatic central lumbar canal stenosis. The procedure involves limited percutaneous laminotomy and thinning of the ligamentum flavum in order to increase the critical diameter of the stenosed spinal canal. The objective of this technical report is to evaluate the acute safety of the mild procedure. ⋯ This review demonstrates the acute safety of the mild procedure with no report of significant or unusual patient complications. To establish complication frequency and longer-term safety profile associated with the treatment, additional studies are currently being conducted. Survey data on file at Vertos Medical, Inc.
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Case Reports
C-arm fluoroscopic cone beam CT for guidance of minimally invasive spine interventions.
Isocentric C-arm fluoroscopic cone beam CT (CBCT) is a new technique for near real time 3-D volume imaging guidance of percutaneous interventional procedures. In combination with digital flat panel detectors, CBCT has high spatial resolution with isotropic voxel size, allowing for high resolution image reconstruction in any plane, including 3D rotational reconstructions. CBCT combines the advantages of conventional CT imaging guidance with the improved spatial resolution, patient positioning, and access of fluoroscopy. ⋯ Isocentric C-arm fluoroscopic cone beam CT (CBCT) is a new technique for 3D volume imaging guidance of interventional procedures of the spine with the capability to produce near real time high resolution image reconstructions in any plane. Compared to conventional CT and biplane fluoroscopy, CBCT offers improved anatomic visualization allowing high accuracy instrumentation placement, improving procedure results and minimizing risk of complications.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Dose conversion between tapentadol immediate and extended release for low back pain.
Tapentadol, a novel, centrally acting analgesic with 2 mechanisms of action (mu-opioid receptor agonism and norepinephrine reuptake inhibition), has been developed in an immediate-release (IR) and an extended-release (ER) formulation. Determination of the safety and equianalgesic ratios for conversion between formulations is important for physicians with patients taking tapentadol IR who may want to switch to tapentadol ER, or vice versa, for any reason. ⋯ NCT00594516.