When your chronic pain persists despite medications, physical therapy, and other conservative treatments, many people assume surgery is their only option. Interventional pain management offers a middle ground between pills and major operations, using precise, minimally invasive techniques to target pain at its source.
At Advanced Pain Management Center in Portland, Oregon, interventional pain management specialist Vladimir Fiks, MD, uses advanced diagnostic tools to identify exactly where your pain originates, then applies targeted treatments that can provide lasting relief without the risks and recovery time of invasive surgery.
Traditional pain management often focuses on covering symptoms with medications or treating large areas with invasive surgery. Interventional pain management targets the specific structures causing your pain, bridging the gap between conservative care and major surgery.
Dr. Fiks needs to know exactly which structures cause your pain before starting treatment. Many patients have multiple problem areas, and treating the wrong location means you continue suffering while time passes.
Diagnostic injections place small amounts of numbing medicine directly onto suspected pain sources. When your pain disappears temporarily, Dr. Fiks knows he’s found the right target. Fluoroscopic guidance provides real-time X-ray imaging that allows precise needle placement within millimeters of target structures.
This approach eliminates guesswork and confirms that treatment will address your actual pain source rather than areas that look abnormal on scans but don’t cause symptoms.
Most interventional procedures start with targeted injections that deliver medication directly to painful areas. These treatments offer us diagnostic information and therapeutic relief. Dr. Fiks may recommend:
The immediate relief from numbing medicine confirms the correct pain source, while steroid medication provides longer-lasting anti-inflammatory effects that can last weeks or months.
When injections provide temporary relief but pain returns, Dr. Fiks may recommend ablation procedures that create longer-lasting results by disabling problematic nerves.
Radiofrequency ablation uses controlled heat to create precise lesions in nerve tissue. The procedure targets only pain-transmitting fibers while preserving motor function, so you maintain normal movement and strength.
For patients with vertebrogenic pain from degenerative endplates, Dr. Fiks offers the Intracept procedure. This specialized treatment targets basivertebral nerves within the vertebral body itself, addressing a pain source that traditional treatments often miss.
The procedure uses radiofrequency energy to heat specific nerve portions and disrupt pain signals traveling from inflamed degenerative endplates.
Some interventional procedures focus on repairing damaged tissues rather than just blocking pain signals. Regenexx® involves harvesting your bone marrow cells, concentrating them, and then injecting them into damaged spinal structures.
These cellular treatments may help repair degenerated discs or strengthen weakened ligaments that allow abnormal spinal movement. The goal is healing rather than symptom management.
Interventional procedures offer several advantages over invasive surgical options for many chronic pain conditions, including:
Risk levels remain much lower than invasive surgery since procedures use needle-based approaches that preserve surrounding tissues and don’t permanently alter your spine or joint structure.
Chronic pain doesn’t have to mean choosing between ineffective medications and major surgery. Interventional pain management provides precise treatment options that can target your specific pain sources with minimal risk and recovery time.
Call Advanced Pain Management Center in Portland today or schedule a consultation online. Dr. Fiks can evaluate your chronic pain condition and determine which interventional procedures might provide the relief you deserve.
