News

Chronic, disabling headaches constitute a major healthcare problem in the United States. Dr. Dumitrescu has had the honor and privilege to train with the world-renowned physicians at Ascendant Neuro and now offers the StimPath(R) procedure to his patients. This is a revolutionary interventional treatment for headache sufferers and was recently featured on national television. Please visit www.ascendantneuro.com for more information. To watch Ken Reed, M.D., the inventor of this procedure on his most recent television appearance, follow this link: http://tinyurl.com/4ywvtkg

Precision Pain Consultants, PLLC and Mihnea Dumitrescu, M.D. have recently partnered with the company nutraMetrix® to provide a comprehensive portfolio of science-based health and wellness products and services. Below are just some of the options for patients to consider:

  • Free in-person health evaluations with our authorized nutraMetrix consultants
  • A complete line of high quality nutritional supplements that are isotonic-capable for maximum absorption capacity
  • GeneSNP® - a genetic test to determine what supplements are best for you based on your genetic variations
  • Transitions® - weight loss programs based on lifestyle change

For further information please click on the link below to be taken directly to the Precision Pain Consultants nutraMetrix web portal

www.nutrametrix.com/ppc

or fill out the health evaluation survey included here and email khilton@austinppc.com or fax (512) 892-0589) it to our office to schedule a complimentary in-person consultation.

My interest in ozone therapy for back and leg pain started in 2004 when I started reading the Italian literature on this subject. At about he same time, I started offering ozone therapy to my patients, on a purely experimental basis.

Chronic low back pain (LBP) is the leading cause of disability in people under the age of 45 years and is the third most common disability in people who are older than 45. Although most of these patients with lumbosacral pain improve in three months, it is estimated that approximately 5% will have chronic; disabling LBP and that up to 60% will have recurrent episodes of lumbosacral pain.

Historically, it has been difficult to isolate a specific anatomic lesion that causes this pain. However, with recent advances in precision lumbar spinal injection techniques, the anatomic source of pain can be located in most patients. It has been estimated that 40% of chronic LBP originates from painful, degenerated intervertebral discs.

Traditional medical treatment for patients with chronic discogenic pain has included oral medications, epidural steroid injections, intra-discal steroid injections, intra-discal electrothermal therapy (IDET), exercise therapies, lumbar corsets, manual therapies, attendance at back school, and lifestyle modifications. Despite the best non-operative treatment, a subset of patients continue to have pain that negatively affects their quality of life and their ability to maintain or return to gainful employment. Traditionally, these patients have the option of living with the chronic, disabling pain or undergoing aggressive surgical intervention in the form of lumbar fusion. This salvage procedure has the potential for significant patient morbidity; failure rates are as high as 40%. Although some evidence supports fusion for segmental instability, there is no scientific basis for the support of lumbar fusion, with or without instrumentation, for chronic discogenic pain.

Recently, physicians in Italy have reported success with a new treatment for patients who have low back pain and patients who have leg pain (sciatica) due to a damaged intervertebral disc. The treatment involves injecting a mixture of oxygen and ozone into the disc responsible for the patient’s symptoms, and around the nerves that run behind the disc. Ozone is a gas derived from oxygen. It is believed that a short, calculated, oxidative stress by ozone administration may correct a persistent imbalance due to excessive chronic oxidative injury, improve the oxygenation of the disc, and suppress the inflammation associated with disc damage.

Ozone therapy for low back pain and leg pain (sciatica) has recently been better recognized ( www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/141595.php) in the United States and I am encouraged that the renewed interest would lead to higher quality clinical trials.

For further information, here (Minimally Invasive Oxygen-Ozone Therapy for Lumbar Disk Herniation, Studies on the Biological Effects of Ozone-1 and -2, Oxygen-Ozone Therapy in the Treatment of the Lumbar Disco-Radicular Conflict, Percutaneous Paravertebral Ozone Therapy, Outcome of O2-O3 Therapy in Intra and Extraforaminal Lumbar Disc Herniations, Our Experience in Treating Disc-Root Compression and Post-Surgical Radiculopathies with Paraspinal Oxygen-Ozone Injection, Telethermographic Assessment of the Efficacy of Oxygen-Ozone Therapy in Disc-Root Compression, Oxygen-Ozone Therapy and Amitriptyline in Disc Diseases and Herniated Intervertebral Discs, Intraforaminal Oxygen-Ozone Therapy, Resistant Lumbar Pain: Oxygen-Ozone Therapy Compared with Other Methods, A Comparison of the Assessment of Quality of Life (AQoL) with Four Other Generic Utility Instruments, Percutaneous Treatment of Herniated Lumbar Disc by Intradiscal Injection of Ozone Mixture, An Unexpected Death During Oxygen-Ozone Therapy, Quality of Life Assessment in the Community-Dwelling Elderly: Validation of the Assessment of Quality of Life (AQoL) Instrument and Comparison with the SF-36, Intramuscular Oxygen-Ozone Therapy in the Treatment of Acute Back Pain with Lumbar Disc Herniation: A Multicenter, Randomized, Double-Blind, Clinical Trial of Active and Simulated Lumbar Paravertebral Injection, Back Ache Treated by Ozone Therapy, Kinesiatrics and Oxygen-Ozone Therapy for Lumbrosacral Disc-Root Compression, Three-Year Follow-up in the Treatment of Lumbar Pain and Sciatica with Intradiscal Ozone Therapy, Ozone Therapy by "Classic" Paraspinal Intramuscular Injection, Pharmacological Principles Underlying Oxygen-Ozone Therapy) are the published articles on this subject so far. If anyone is aware of additional published literature, please let us know.

We have followed with great interest new developments in the minimally-invasive treatment of chronic discogenic back pain. This is a very serious problem in our patient population and fusion surgery does not always offer the expected pain relief, even in the absence of surgical complications.

Intradiscal injection of methylene blue, a substance capable of blocking nerve conduction and destroying nerve endings inside the painful lumbar discs, seems like an exciting new alternative for the treatment of back pain. You can find here more information about the intradiscal use of methylene blue. This is not yet an FDA-approved treatment for low back pain, and many questions still remain unanswered. The data so far show a lack of adverse effects, which is clearly encouraging. Stay tuned.

On 2/12/2011, Dr. Dumitrescu was invited to speak to "Hands, Feet and Heart", the neuropathy support group for central Texans, on the topic of Neuropathic Pain. Here is his presentation. For more information on this support group, please visit www.handsfeetheart.org.

11th International Conference in Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy, 28-30 August 2009, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Dr. Dumitrescu was honored to speak on the following three subjects:

  1. Spinal Stenosis: Does the Picture Match the Clinical Presentation (jointly presented with Robert Medcalf, P.T.)

  2. Cervical Discography: How Does the Morphology Explain Centralization?

  3. The Natural History of the Lumbar Disc Extrusion.