DENVER, Colo. (Ivanhoe Newswire) — Imagine waking up one day and feeling a sharp pain in your foot, only to realize it had been amputated years ago? Or that you lost the use of your legs in an accident but still suffer debilitating pain. Studies suggest that up to 80% of amputees and a significant portion of paraplegics experience phantom pains that can be anything from a tingling sensation that doesn’t go away, to debilitating pain that can be unbearable. Now, a new procedure is giving patients hope that their pain will go away.
Veterinarian Betsy Helbing Garza’s days are a whirlwind of animal emergencies, surgeries, and paperwork. And while she juggles life-or-death situations at work, at home, it’s two children that keep her on the move. And through it all, she doesn’t let her wheelchair slow her down.
“I fell through a hole in a 40-story bridge and broke my back,” Betsy told Ivanhoe.
For the past 15 years, Betsy has not been able to walk but…
“About two months after my injury, I started having this awful shooting pain in my legs that just felt like I was being electrocuted,” she explained.
Neurosurgeon Scott Falci, MD, from the Falci Institute for Spinal Cord Injuries says paraplegics, quadriplegics and those who suffer an amputation often face phantom pain.
“The nerve cells that receive the information where they can become hyperactive, sending false signals to the brain,” he explained.
Through advanced imaging, Dr. Falci can pinpoint where the pain is coming from.
“We’ve learned precisely where these processing nerves in the spinal cord are firing when they shouldn’t be and which parts of the spinal cord they’re doing that in,” he said.
Then the overactive nerves are killed.
“It’s done under the operating microscope. Then we place a similar electrode once we’ve identified them in those precise areas and deliver radio frequency heat,” Dr. Falci explained.
Within a few days, Betsy’s pain was completely gone.
“I, not only do I have decreased pain, I have zero pain,” she said.
Dr. Falci says the procedure can take up to 12 hours to perform. Eighty-five percent of his patients find complete relief from the phantom pains. Right now, Dr. Falci believes he is the only doctor doing this procedure.
Contributors to this news report include: Marsha Lewis, Producer; Matt Goldschmidt, Videographer; Roque Correa, Editor.
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Source:
https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.cjtee.2018.04.006
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Ann King, MSN, FNP-C
Falci Institute for Spinal Cord Injuries
(303) 761-5281
If this story or any other Ivanhoe story has impacted your life or prompted you or someone you know to seek or change treatments, please let us know by contacting Marjorie Bekaert Thomas at mthomas@ivanhoe.com
