My doctor wants to perform IDET or Myeloscopy; is this the same type of procedure?
Absolutely not! First of all, IDET has a very poor track record. According to the manufacturer’s own data (which is often the most positive data), IDET only improves pain by 2 to 3 points on a 0 to 10 pain scale. Thus, if your pain is a 10 over 10 (which many patients are), you could only expect to decrease to an 8 over 10. This only represents a 20% improvement and is barely significant. In fact, many of the original researchers in IDET no longer perform IDET because of the overall poor results. As for Myeloscopy (or Epiduroscopy), few physicians perform this anymore. Results with Myeloscopy are not any better than just performing an epidural steroid injection. Most insurance companies don’t even pay for Myeloscopy (Epiduroscopy). Therefore, in our opinion, both IDET and Myeloscopy will gradually fall out of use by pain physicians as soon as patients and insurance companies realize they are mostly ineffective.
