RESULTS The results of this review confirm and help quantify the significant differences that existed in the terminology and all the areas of diagnosis and treatment of presumed discogenic pain .
Our findings show that suspected discogenic pain , despite its extensive affirmation in the literature and enormous re sources regularly devoted to it , currently lacks clear diagnostic criteria and uniform treatment or terminology
BACKGROUND CONTEXT Pain innate to intervertebral disc , often referred to as discogenic pain , is suspected by some authors to be the major source of chronic low back and neck pain .
Current management of suspected discogenic pain lacks st and ardized diagnosis , treatment , and terminology .
PURPOSE In an attempt to determine whether patterns existed that may facilitate st and ardization of care , we sought to analyze the terminologies used and the various modes of diagnosis and treatment of suspected discogenic pain .
Intradiscal Electrothermal Therapy (IDET) Provides Effective Symptom Relief in Patients With Discogenic Low Back Pain
Study Design Single-arm , prospect i ve clinical trial . Objective To evaluate back pain severity , physical function , and quality of life outcomes in highly selected patients with lumbar discogenic pain treated with intradiscal electrothermal therapy ( IDET ) .  Summary of Background Data Degeneration and disruption of the intervertebral disc can be the source of severe low back pain and the associated physical dysfunction . IDET is a minimally invasive treatment option in the continuum of care between conservative nonoperative management and spinal surgery . Methods Using magnetic resonance imaging , pressure-controlled discography , and postdiscogram computed tomography findings , 56 patients with lumbar discogenic pain were identified , underwent IDET treatment and followed for 20.5±4.4 months , on average . Outcomes included assessment s of back pain severity by visual analog scale , sitting , st and ing , and walking tolerances , and health-related quality of life using the SF-36 . Results Mean pain severity scores ( visual analog scale ) improved from 6.1±1.8 pretreatment to 2.4±2.6 at final follow-up ( P=0.0001 ) . Mean tolerance times ( minutes ) improved from 40.9±40.6 to 84.5±54.4 , 46.8±42.9 to 84.4±54.2 , and 39.2±39.6 to 77.9±50.8 between baseline and final follow-up for sitting , st and ing , and walking , respectively ( P=0.0001 for all comparisons ) . Seven of 8 quality of life domains showed significant ( P=0.0001 for all comparisons ) improvement over baseline . Forty-two patients ( 75 % ) were classified as a treatment success by virtue of a ≥2-point improvement in pain severity or a ≥10-point improvement in either the physical functioning or bodily pain domain of the SF-36 . Conclusions The findings of this study suggest that durable clinical improvements can be realized after IDET in highly selected patients with mild disc degeneration , confirmatory imaging evidence of annular disruption , and concordant pain provocation by low pressure discography
RESULTS The results of this review confirm and help quantify the significant differences that existed in the terminology and all the areas of diagnosis and treatment of presumed discogenic pain .
Our findings show that suspected discogenic pain , despite its extensive affirmation in the literature and enormous re sources regularly devoted to it , currently lacks clear diagnostic criteria and uniform treatment or terminology
BACKGROUND CONTEXT Pain innate to intervertebral disc , often referred to as discogenic pain , is suspected by some authors to be the major source of chronic low back and neck pain .
Current management of suspected discogenic pain lacks st and ardized diagnosis , treatment , and terminology .
PURPOSE In an attempt to determine whether patterns existed that may facilitate st and ardization of care , we sought to analyze the terminologies used and the various modes of diagnosis and treatment of suspected discogenic pain .