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conferenceseries .com
Pain Medicine 2017
October 19-20, 2017
Volume 6, Issue 6 (Suppl) J Pain Relief, an open access journal
ISSN: 2167-0846
October 19-20, 2017 San Francisco, USA
4th International Conference on
Pain Medicine
Probing the mechanism of sciatica pain with novel imaging approaches
Yi Zhang
Massachusetts General Hospital, USA
Low back pain is classified as axial back pain and radicular back pain, commonly referred to as sciatica. The incidence of radicular
symptoms (sciatica) in patients with back pain has been reported from 12% to 40%. The mechanism of chronic sciatica pain is
still not well understood. A fundamental question remains unanswered: Is sciatica pain produced by persistent inflammation in
spinal structures along spinal nerve roots, or is it merely the result of a neuropathic state of the involved spinal nerves per se without
overt inflammation? Nevertheless, this condition has been treated with epidural steroid injections, with varying success. The current
literature regarding the effectiveness of epidural injections is inconclusive with highly variable outcomes based on the technique,
outcome measures, patient selection, and methodology. Severe complications can occur with epidural steroid injections. There exists
significant doubt in the medical community whether epidural is effective in treating chronic radicular pain and hence whether it
should be used to treat such conditions. Given the known side effects of corticosteroid and potential serious procedural complications
associated with epidural steroid injection, it would be desirable to identify patients with ongoing inflammation in the epidural space
and provide epidural steroid injection in more selective subpopulations of radicular pain patients in order to improve success rate of
epidural steroid injection and eliminate unnecessary injections. An image tool that can visualize inflammatory process in the spine
in vivo will provide tremendous diagnostic value in the diagnosis of low back pain with or without sciatica. Availability of PET/MRI
scanners offers now a unique opportunity to study the association between neuroinflammation and structural changes in this major
medical problem. We will present our recent progresses in utilizing this novel technology in imaging of sciatica pain patients.
Biography
Yi Zhang is a board certified pain management Specialist and Anesthesiologist practicing interventional pain management at the Center for Pain Medicine, Department of
Anesthesia, Critical care and Pain Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard medical School in Boston MA USA. He is the Director of the MGH Inpatient Pain
Services and Director of Mass General West Center for Pain Management. He obtained his MD degree from Peking Union Medical College, and he is trained in Anesthe-
siology Residency and Pain Medicine Fellowship at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School. He also obtained a PhD degree in Neuroscience from
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and a Master’s degree in Computer Science from Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering. In addition to patient care and admin-
istration, he has also been developing novel technologies in diagnosing and treating pain. His recent research focuses on the development of novel imaging technologies
in diagnosing sciatica pain, a common chronic pain condition with an immense socioeconomic impact..
Yi Zhang, J Pain Relief 2017, 6:6 (Suppl)
DOI: 10.4172/2167-0846-C1-017