Excerpt from Intradiscal Electrothermal Therapy

Synonyms, Key Words, and Related Terms: chronic low back pain, discogenic low back pain, disc disease, disk disease, intradiscal electrothermal annuloplasty, IDEA, intradiscal electrothermal therapy, IDET

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Intradiscal electrothermal annuloplasty (IDEA) or intradiscal electrothermal therapy (IDET), as it is known commercially, is a new and minimally invasive technique for the treatment of discogenic low back pain. IDET involves the percutaneous threading of a flexible catheter into the disk under fluoroscopic guidance. The catheter, composed of thermal resistive coil, heats the posterior annulus of the disk, causing contraction of collagen fibers and destruction of afferent nociceptors. Although initial clinical studies suggest that IDET might be effective in approximately 70% of patients with chronic unremitting low back pain, its efficacy has not been assessed in randomized controlled clinical trials. The objectives of this article are to review published reports and present a general overview of IDET.

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