For the millions who live in the shadow of unrelenting back pain — where every movement is a negotiation with suffering — a small but striking study presented this summer offers a new kind of hope. Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch adapted catheter techniques long used to treat strokes, threading medication directly into the arteries feeding damaged spinal tissue, and watched pain scores fall from near-maximum to zero. Six patients is a modest beginning, but the principle they have demonstrated — that the tools of neurointerventional surgery might reach chronic pain where o
Catheter-based technique eliminates severe back pain in early trial
The procedure addresses severe back pain, a leading cause of disability and opioid dependence affecting millions, with early results showing pain elimination and reduced medication reliance.