Clinical follow-up of 50 patients treated by percutaneous lumbar discectomy

Clin Imaging. 2006 Jul-Aug;30(4):242-4. doi: 10.1016/j.clinimag.2006.01.019.

Abstract

A series of 50 patients presenting with lumbar discogenic disease, and treated by percutaneous discectomy using the Dekompressor system (Stryker, Kalamazoo, MI, USA), were followed for more than 6 months, by analyzing the evolution of the painful symptomatology with the visual analog scale (VAS) system. All patients had been under treatment with analgesic or anti-inflammatory agents. The intensity of the pain was measured 2, 7, 30, and 180 days after the percutaneous discectomy. An improvement in the painful symptomatology of less than 30%, observed in 11 cases and in 1 case of epidural pathology, was considered an unsuccessful result. A decrease of the pain of more than 70% was observed in 72% of cases, either with the end of the symptoms of pain as noted in 79.5% of patients or with a marked reduction of the medical treatments obtained in 21.5%. The results obtained were already almost definitive at the seventh day of follow-up, and further controls rarely demonstrated an improvement in the pain. The location of the herniated disc is a parameter which appears to be very important in the efficacy of percutaneous discectomy. We noted an improvement of more than 70% in 79% of the posterolateral foraminal or extraforaminal hernias, although these favorable results were observed only in 50% of the posteromedian hernias.

Publication types

  • Clinical Trial

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Back Pain / diagnosis*
  • Back Pain / etiology
  • Back Pain / prevention & control*
  • Diskectomy, Percutaneous / methods*
  • Female
  • Follow-Up Studies
  • Humans
  • Intervertebral Disc Displacement / complications
  • Intervertebral Disc Displacement / surgery*
  • Lumbar Vertebrae / surgery
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Treatment Outcome