Methods of detecting and treating back pain
AssigneeRelievant Medsystems, Inc.
InventorsBrian W. Donovan, Samit Patel, Ray M. Baker
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Described herein are various implementations of systems and methods for accessing and modulating tissue (for example, systems and methods for accessing and ablating nerves or other tissue within or surrounding a vertebral body to treat chronic lower back pain). Assessment of vertebral endplate degeneration or defects (e.g., pre-Modic changes) to facilitate identification of treatment sites and protocols are also provided in several embodiments. Several embodiments comprise the use of biomarkers to confirm or otherwise assess ablation, pain relief, efficacy of treatment, etc. Some embodiments include robotic elements for, as an example, facilitating robotically-controlled access, navigation, imaging, and/or treatment.
Claims20
A method of detecting and treating back pain of a subject, the method comprising:
- identifying a candidate vertebral body from a plurality of vertebral bodies of the subject for treatment based on a determination that the candidate vertebral body exhibits one or more symptoms associated with vertebral endplate degeneration or defects,
- wherein the determination is based on obtaining one or more biomarkers from the subject,
- wherein the one or more biomarkers correlate with pathophysiological processes associated with vertebral endplate degeneration or defects,
- wherein the one or more biomarkers are obtained from at least one tissue or fluid source comprising plasma, serum, or synovial fluid;
- and
- ablating a basivertebral nerve within the identified candidate vertebral body by applying a thermal treatment dose to a location within the vertebral body of at least a minimum threshold of 240 cumulative equivalent minute (“CEM”) using a CEM at 43 degrees Celsius model sufficient to ablate the basivertebral nerve, wherein the location of the applied thermal treatment dose is in a desired treatment location within the vertebral body, wherein infrared sensing techniques are performed to confirm the thermal treatment dose is in the desired treatment location within the vertebral body, wherein the infrared sensing techniques comprise thermal mapping using multiple thermocouples positioned at different locations within the vertebral body to generate a graphical visualization, wherein the graphical visualization is displayed on a graphical user interface and overlaid on top of actual anatomical images of the vertebral body.
A method of detecting and treating back pain of a subject, the method comprising:
- identifying a candidate vertebral body from a plurality of vertebral bodies of the subject for treatment based on a determination that the candidate vertebral body exhibits one or more symptoms associated with vertebral endplate degeneration or defects, all of which may be considered pre-Modic change characteristics,
- wherein the one or more symptoms include bone marrow lesions or fibrosis,
- wherein the determination is based on obtaining one or more biomarkers from the subject,
- wherein the one or more biomarkers correlate with pathophysiological processes associated with vertebral endplate degeneration or defects;
- wherein the one or more biomarkers are obtained from at least one tissue or fluid source comprising plasma, serum, or synovial fluid;
- and
- ablating one or more intraosseous nerves within the identified candidate vertebral body by applying a thermal treatment dose to a location within the vertebral body of at least a minimum threshold of 240 cumulative equivalent minute (“CEM”) using a CEM at 43 degrees Celsius model sufficient to ablate the basivertebral nerve, wherein the location of the applied thermal treatment dose is in a desired treatment location within the vertebral body, wherein infrared sensing techniques are performed to confirm the thermal treatment dose is in the desired treatment location within the vertebral body, wherein the infrared sensing techniques comprise thermal mapping using multiple thermocouples positioned at different locations within the vertebral body to generate a graphical visualization, wherein the graphical visualization is displayed on a graphical user interface and overlaid on top of actual anatomical images of the vertebral body.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.