IDET - Treatment of Lumbar Disc Pain

IDET, or Intradiscal Electrothermal Therapy, is a procedure that is being done to treat discogenic back pain. IDET uses a probe inserted into the disc to heat the tissues within the affected disc. Heating the inside of the disc causes the tissues to shrink. It also cauterizes, or burns, the small nerve fibers in the periphery of the disc. Whether or not it is one of these factors, or something else, that accounts for the results of IDET is not exactly known.