Interventional Pain Management Center

Chronic pain is a complex issue, and we understand that it can be a burden on patients and their families. At the Interventional Pain Management Center, our team of experts offer the latest cutting edge, minimally invasive interventional methods to treat patients with back pain, migraines, headaches, and general pain conditions such as acute, chronic, neuropathic, and cancer-related pain.

Our goal is to reduce pain, and improve functional levels and quality of life, while eliminating the need for the addictive nature of pain medications. We are among only a handful of centers in the UAE offering the very latest, most effective pain relief procedures such as neurolytic blocks, cryoablation, dorsal root ganglion stimulation (DRG) and intrathecal pumps, for chronic and cancer-related pain. [KP1]

Our board-certified multidisciplinary team of interventional pain physicians, psychologists, and physical therapists are highly skilled and experienced in providing specialized care for complex, chronic and cancer-related pain. We focus on individually tailored treatment through the latest minimally invasive, evidence-based techniques which improve the quality of life and overall wellbeing for every patient.

What We Treat

• Cancer-related pain
• Cervical degenerative disc disease
• Chronic abdominal pain
• Chronic back pain
• Chronic headache, migraine and facial pain
• Chronic hip pain and osteoarthritis
• Chronic knee pain and osteoarthritis
• Chronic neck pain
• Chronic pelvic pain
• Chronic shoulder pain
• Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS)
• Failed back surgery syndrome
• Lumbar degenerative disc disease
• Myofascial muscle pain
• Neuropathy including diabetic neuropathy
• Osteoarthritis of the spine
• Pain after back/spine surgery
• Pain after peripheral nerve injuries
• Peripheral neuropathy
• Post-dural puncture headache (PDPH)
• Sciatica
• Shingles pain and post herpetic neuralgia (PHN)
• Spinal stenosis
• Vertebral compression fractures
• Painful spasticity and dystonia
• Post stroke complications
• Trigeminal neuralgia

Multidisciplinary treatment for pain management

We believe in a multidisciplinary care model which includes non-addictive medications, physical therapy, psychology, and interventional pain procedures. We understand that everyone’s pain experience is unique, so we offer tailored treatment plans that are personalized to meet the specific needs and goals of every patient.

Interventional procedures for pain management include:

• Platelet-rich plasma (PRP): A patient’s own platelets are injected to improve the function of tissues. The treatment is not widely available in the UAE, but can offer relief for patients following sports injuries, or for those affected by osteoarthritis of tendinitis.
• Cryoablation: A novel treatment that uses extremely cold gas to freeze peripheral nerves to successfully treat various pain conditions including cancer-related pain.
• Neurolytic block: A procedure used to alleviate severe cancer-related pain which involves injecting a chemical into the nerve which destroys the nerve or nerve plexus, and then disrupts the transmission of pain signals along specific nerves.It is a complementary, novel procedure that reduces the need for opioid medications and improves the quality of life significantly for the patient.
• Peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS):A minimally invasive procedure that targets our peripheral nerves. A tiny wire delivers electrical stimulation at the exact source of the pain, which changes the way the brain perceives the pain. PNS is a safe and reversible procedure that can treat cancer-related pain and pain associated with chronic neuropathic pain of the upper and lower extremities, shoulder and knee pain, groin pain or nerve damage after surgery, chronic back pain and more.
• Differential target multiplexed (DTM) spinal cord simulation (SCS):Offers patients the very latest interventional technique, with more than 80% reporting a notable reduction in chronic pain. The implanted DTM device targets neurons, as well as two types of cells involved in the chronic pain pathway, to give exceptional pain relief results. DTM is especially effective in treating patients who are experiencing pain after surgery.
• Spinal cord stimulation (SCS):A small device is implanted near the source of the chronic pain and delivers electrical impulses which interfere with pain signals before they reach the brain.
• Intrathecal pump (ITP): A device is implanted that delivers pain medication to the spinal fluid. It helps patients suffering from chronic pain related to cancer or patients with chronic pain where other treatments weren’t successful.
• Dorsal root ganglion stimulation (DRG):A novel device designed for patients suffering from focal neuropathic pain related to Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS). Similar to traditional Spinal Cord Stimulation, DRG delivers electrical signals to the dorsal root ganglion, a bundle of nerves just outside the spinal cord.
• Kyphoplasty and vertebroplasty: These procedures can be effective in treating people with vertebral compression fractures due to trauma, osteoporosis, or cancer. Kyphoplasty involves cement insertion inside the vertebral body together with creation of a cavity using a balloon, which allows the cement to be injected before being removed.
• Epidural steroid injections (ESIs): Often used to treat nerve pain, which radiates from the spine down and can cause sharp pains to shoot from the lower back into the legs, or from the neck into the shoulders and arms.
• Medial branch blocks (MBB): Used for the diagnosis and treatment of pain related to arthritis of the small joints of the spine, including the neck, mid and low back pain. If the patient experiences good pain relief from the procedure, they can be a candidate for radiofrequency ablation.
• Radiofrequency ablation (RFA): A device is used to deliver an electrical current and heat to the small nerves of the spine and joints. It can provide long lasting pain relief to patients suffering from chronic neck and back pain as well as patients suffering from knee, hip and shoulder pain due to arthritis.
• Cooled radiofrequency ablation (COLIEF): A device that can help patients suffering from knee, hip and shoulder pain. This minimally invasive treatment targets nerves that transmit pain signals, and it’s the first and only radiofrequency treatment FDA-cleared for the relief of osteoarthritis knee pain.
• Transdiscal biacuplasty: A novel procedure, used to treat back pain due to intrinsic intervertebral disc problems, or “lumbar discogenic pain”, which applies heat to the outer part of the disc between the lumbar spine vertebrae and ablate the neurons that generate pain sensations.

Other pain management procedures we offer include:

• Joint and bursa injections for knee, shoulder, hip and other peripheral joints using ultrasound or X-ray guidance.
• Sacroiliac joint steroid injections for back/buttock pain related to sacroiliac joint (SIJ) dysfunction.
• Intercostal nerve blocks for chest wall pain.
• Superficial nerve blocks for headache such as occipital nerve blocks, sphenopalatine ganglion block and BOTOX injections for chronic migraine/dystonia and spasticity.
• Nerve blocks for shoulder pain including suprascapular, axillary nerve blocks.
• Trigeminal nerve blocks for trigeminal neuralgia.
• Nerve blocks for abdominal pain including ilioinguinal, iliohypogastric TAP, quadratus lumborum blocks, erector spinal blocks and celiac plexus injections.
• Nerve blocks to treat pelvic pain such as ganglion impar blocks, superior hypogastric blocks and pudendal nerve blocks.
• Sympathetic nerve blocks to treat Complex Regional Pain Syndrome CRPS: lumbar sympathetic block, stellate ganglion block and impar ganglion neuromodulation.
• Discogram for diagnosis of lumbar discogenic pain
• Trigger point injections for myofascial muscle pain
• Epidural blood patch to treat post-dural puncture headaches.
• Prolotherapy using regenerative techniques with dextrose.