Summary:
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has issued full guidance to the NHS in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland on percutaneous intradiscal electrothermal therapy for low back pain in August 2004.
NICE has reviewed this guidance and is reassessing the procedure. New guidance will be published as a result. Until the new guidance is published the NHS should continue to follow the recommendations in the guidance below
The Interventional Procedures Advisory Committee (IPAC) reconsidered this procedure in light of comments received during the initial consultation in May 2009. As a result, NICE issued a second consultation document about its safety and efficacy. This has been issued for 4 weeks public consultation (until 5pm on 28 July 2009).
If you wish to comment on the consultation document please use the link at the bottom of this page.
NICE is committed to promoting through its guidance race and disability equality and equality between men and women, and to eliminating all forms of discrimination. One of the ways we do this is by trying to involve as wide a range of people and interest groups as possible in the development of our guidance on interventional procedures. In particular, we aim to encourage people and organisations from groups in the population who might not normally comment on our guidance to do so. We also ask consultees to highlight any ways in which draft guidance fails to promote equality or tackle discrimination and how it might be improved.
If you wish to be alerted to developments regarding this procedure, including the release of NICE guidance, please express your interest.
The Interventional Procedures Advisory Committee (IPAC) originally considered this procedure as part of percutaneous intradiscal thermocoagulation.
However, as a result of comments received during the initial consultation in August 2003, IPAC decided to consider the procedure separately for intradiscal thermocoagulation using electrothermal energy, and intradiscal thermocoagulation using radiofrequency energy. Guidance has now been produced for both procedures.
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