Diagnosis & Treatment of Facet Joint Pain

Facet joint problems are usually treated with a combination of conservative methods, including pain medication, exercise and physical therapy, posture correction, activity modification, and steroid injections. If your pain doesn’t improve, you may be helped by an outpatient procedure called Radiofrequency Neurotomy, also called Radiofrequency Ablation or lesioning. This approach completes the continuum of care for back pain sufferers who want a minimally invasive alternative to surgery.[1]
How is facet pain diagnosed?
The most definitive diagnosis for determining your pain can be made by a medial branch block.[2] This involves injecting a numbing medicine into or very near the nerves that supply the facet joint. If there is a significant decrease in pain (80% or more), it confirms that the joint is causing the pain.

Things To Do In Fiji

Things to do in Fiji are as vast as your imagination will allow and your body will be able to endure. According to your own personality and the things you enjoy doing, Fiji tourism offers a multi-cultural tropical setting for your playground.

Fiji Beaches

For those that wish to take it easy, things to do in Fiji can be just as simple as sunbathing on one of the many beaches or taking a tour of the Sleeping Giant Gardens.

Diving in Fiji

However, if you are more of an adventurous type then you are sure to want to see what goes on under the blue waters at the vast soft coral reefs and take in a couple of hours of diving. Diving and snorkeling is one of the most sought after things to do in Fiji that have scuba divers from all over the world visiting to enjoy the soft corral reefs that Fiji Tourism is proud to call a part of their natural habitat. The magnificent Bega Lagoon and the Great White Wall are both tourist attractions in Fiji that leave divers wanting more. Water sports of all kinds are a huge part of Fiji tourism, which includes swimming, kayaking, and surfing. Anyone that loves water is sure to find many ways to pass the time away.

Fiji Cruises

Visitors can view attractions in Fiji in many different ways such as a cruise by schooner or yacht to the various islands encompassing Fiji, or a coach tour on the main islands.

Fiji Tours

Taking advantage of the tours will allow you to choose the things to do in Fiji that catch your eye and your desire your adventure such as horse back riding, a quiet picnic on the beach, or browsing through the Fiji museum in Suva.

Koroyanitu National Park

Fiji tourism includes six National Parks that draw campers and hikers to enjoy the natural beauty of Fiji while allowing visitors to get up and close personal to the tropical flora and fauna of the islands. Koroyanitu National Park, Nadi Area, Viti Levu offers camping and hiking through local villages which is one of the attractions in Fiji that everyone loves due to the fact of meeting locals and even possible a chief.

Golfing in Fiji

Golfers love the tropical setting found at the various breath taking clubs and resorts that dot the islands. There are over twelve golf courses scattered throughout the islands that offer challenging and lush green landscape.

Fiji Events

Fiji has many wonderful and unique events throughout the year, which are considered tourist attractions in Fiji. One very popular participating event is the meke, which is Fijian dancing whereas locals dress in national costumes of grass skirts, tapa cloths, and flower leis while males perform warrior dances and the women sing.

Fiji Weddings

Many couples choose Fiji for their destination wedding and stay for their honeymoon at one of the luxurious resorts. Wadigi Island Resort is one such escape that offers the majestic beauty that can only be seen on the edge of Wadigi cliff with amenities such as gourmet chefs. Along with being treated like royalty, you will be able to find an entire of world of things to in Fiji on Wadigi Island including trips to villages, water skiing, fishing, and of course lying on the beach with the love of your life.

Are there any possible dose reduction strategies for CT Colonography?

Yes. There are clear opportunities for dose reduction with almost any type of CT scan. Of importance are using the highest pitch and lowest tube current (mAs) consistent with acceptable images. Increasing the pitch from 1.0 to 2.0 usually reduces the dose by half. The patient must be carefully centred at the isocentre of the scanner. Tube current should be set at the lowest level that allows adequate visualization of the colonic wall , or tube current modulation (TCM), a technique that adapts tube current to the morphology of the patient, can be used to achieve dose reductions of about 35%.Most protocols use kVp between 110-120. A number of authors have developed innovative colonic phantoms to help optimize CTC protocols.

Ultra-low dose protocols result in an effective dose of 0.5 to 2 mSv using 10 mAs and 120 kVp These have been shown to be capable of a sensitivity of over 80% for polyps > 5 mm and specificity in excess of 95%. Imaging of polyps with doses as low as 0.05 mSv has been shown to be feasible. When compared with results from 8-12 mSv scans, the lesion detectability did not change significantly although image noise increased substantially. The latter problem can be ameliorated through use of noise reduction filters and image smoothing.This adds to the widely shared opinion that there is much scope for dose reduction, with some loss of image quality, but without significant reduction in lesion detectability.