|
Houston Spine and Disc:
Testing for Back Pain
Medical Evaluation and Diagnostic
Testing procedures should be performed prior to beginning any treatment
in order to determine the treatment process that will be most
effective. The following describes some of the evaluation testing
procedures that can be performed to help confirm the cause of back pain.
X-RAYS
An X-Ray provides an image that
can be used to evaluate bones, joints and degenerative lesions in the
spine.
CAT SCAN (CT)
Used primarily when problems are
suspected in the bones or when a patient can't obtain an MRI
MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING (MRI)
The most common test to evaluate
the lumbar spine. Evaluates: *Vertebral Bones * Discs * Joints *
Nerves * Soft tissues
MYELOGRAM
Where dye is injected into the
spinal column and then the area is flexed and x-rayed.
DISCOGRAPHY
Discography is a diagnostic
procedure used to determine the level of the painful disc.
EMG
The EMG/Nerve Conduction Study
is a useful test to study the nerves in the arms and legs.
BONE DENSITY
Bone density testing is fast,
painless, and noninvasive. During a test, patients lie fully
clothed on a padded treatment table while the machine scans one or more
areas of bone. The entire test normally takes only minutes.
BONE SCAN
A Bone scan in Nuclear Medicine
is a procedure which involves two steps: The patient is asked to arrive
3 hours before their actual scan to receive an injection of a small
amount of radioactive tracer that is "tagged" to a calcium like
material. Usually the tracer is injected in a vein in the arm of
the patient. In some instances, other sites of injection are used
especially for those patients that had difficult veins to find.
The "radiopharmaceutical" has no side effects and because of this, the
patient can be released from the department for 3 hours to give the
calcium time to circulate and be taken up by the bone. There are
no dietary restrictions so the patient may eat before and after the
injection.
After the three hours have elapsed, the patient returns to the Nuclear
Medicine department for their scan. The patient is placed on a
table a head to toe scan is performed by a "Gamma Camera".
|
