Mercy Pain Management Specialist Dr. David Maine Discusses the New "OsteoCool" Process for Treating Painful Spinal Tumors

Sometimes, when a patient has advanced cancer, it spreads to the spine, causing painful tumors. But a new procedure removes the spinal tumors and the pain that comes with it.

"Many cancers that metastasize to bone -- and in this case, the spine -- are very responsive to radiation therapy, some are not. Sometimes, either you cannot get radiation or the tumor itself does not respond to radiation, and those are patients when this can be particularly effective," said Dr. David Maine, Director of The Center for Interventional Pain Medicine at Mercy Medical Center.

The OsteoCool device is a new procedure that destroys cancerous spinal tumors with just the right amount of heat.

"We control the temperature, and more importantly, we control the temperature around the probes, so that we’re not injuring tissues that should not be injured," Dr. Maine said.

During the procedure, the area between the two water-cooled probes expand and turn white as they release enough heat to destroy only the targeted spot. The outpatient procedure usually takes about 30 to 45 minutes.

"It is done under anesthesia, so the patient has to recover appropriately from that, and then assuming that they’re neurologically OK, there have not been any issues from that standpoint in relationship to the procedure. They’re free to go home," Dr. Maine said.

To view Dr. David Maine’s interview regarding Osteocool for treating spinal tumor pain, click here.