PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The opioid crisis has forced physicians to find other ways to numb patients’ pain. Christiana Care is offering a chilling new option.
Freezing temperatures are being used instead of opioids to control pain during knee replacements. Dr. Steven Dellose, an orthopedic surgeon and medical director at Christiana’s Center for Advanced Joint Replacement, calls it cryoanalgesia.
“We use a small probe, which is inserted into the skin after we numb the skin, right around the areas where the nerves innervate the knee. And what happens is it delivers extreme cold therapy to the nerve and it blocks signals of pain from that nerve,” he explained.
The procedure is done in the office one to three weeks before the total knee replacement. The effects are immediate, last for three months, and best of all, are non-addictive, allowing the physician to prescribe a lot less medication to each patient.