Collaboration with Overseas Medical Institutions
Italy
Contents
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Training in Italy
Since there is a high demand for pain treatment among patients in the EU, and treatment methods for pain are more advanced than in Japan, the treatment for back pain there is consequently more advanced. This time, we visited the Bellaria National Hospital in Bologna, Italy, to learn how to use ozone to treat disc-related low back pain, spinal arthritis and myofascial pain - all of which are all becoming a problem in Japan.
The Bellaria National Hospital is the birthplace of ozone treatment, and is well known as a hospital where doctors from the EU and from all over the world receive training for ozone treatment. The director of the hospital currently performs intradiscal ozone decompression procedure, based on the method of former professor Leonardi at the Bellaria National Hospital. So, we set off for Italy with high expectations for practical training in ozone treatment in the place where it all began.
The first day was spent attending a fundamental lecture by doctors in the neuroradiology department on spinal dissection and intradiscal ozone decompression procedures, and another lecture on verification of clinical theses, then observing treatment on location. There was no difference with the way we perform the ozone treatment method for intervertebral discs, but we were surprised to see the ozone treatment being performed for spinal arthritis too. In Japan, only nerve blocks are usually performed for intervertebral arthritis, but the addition of ozone to nerve blocks increases the efficacy rate compared to nerve blocks alone, and ozone is administered as standard treatment.
In addition, ozone treatment was performed for myofascial pain syndrome, and as many as 12 patients were treated in one day. In fact, since even some of our onsite interpreter’s friends had received ozone treatment, we had the feeling that ozone treatment was viewed as a very common form of pain intervention.
During this training, we were able to learn about the effectiveness and methods of ozone treatment for the conditions of spinal arthritis and myofascial pain syndrome, which are problems for many patients.
