Abstract

RIBERA CANUDAS, M. V. et al. Our experiences with a joint efficiency improvement program in patients with spinal diseases. Rev. Soc. Esp. Dolor [online]. 2011, vol.18, n.3, pp.154-160. ISSN 1134-8046.

Aim: to evaluate the pain relief with the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) in pacients with chronic spinal pain after receiving treatment and the assessment of a multidisciplinary team. Material and method: prospective study with 82 consecutive patients with spinal pain which have been assessed by the Medical team (Rehabilitation Department and Pain Unit). The intensity of pain have been evaluated with the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) before specific treatment regarding the etiopathology of pain and after 3 months. Also the associated pathologies (AP) and their correlation with the cause and the relief of pain have been assessed. The statistical study has been performed with SPSS. Results: the evolution time of the health problem was 31.1 months (SD 22.17). The waiting time fot the team visit was 2.9 weeks (SD 1.95). The main pathology was lumbosciatalgia (83.5% of the patients), being the narrowing of the spinal canal the main diagnose (45.1% of the cases), followed by the degenerative pathology (14.6%) and the foraminal stenosis (11.7%). The VAS was administered at the beginning and 3 months after the therapeutic intervention, both in the case of conservative treatment or with minimally invasive techniques (MIT). The therapeutic methods used were: epidural infiltrations (28 cases), foraminal blocks (15), facetary block (5), transcutaneous electrical stimulation (3), pharmacological treatment (15) and, in 16 cases, more than one technique was recquired. The mean initial VAS was 7.75 and 4.94 after 3 months, existing clinically significative differences. Also there is a positive correlation between the age and the number of APs, but not between the initial/final VAS and the number of APs. Finally a positive correlation between the VAS and the etiopathogeny of pain was found. Conclusion: the results obtained reassert the need to optimize the sanitary resources used in order to improve the therapeutic efficiency and efficacy.

Keywords : Spinal pain; Team program; Minimally invasive techniques.

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