Back pain affects up to 30% of Americans at some point in their lives. In most cases, this pain resolves with conservative treatment. Those patients who have continued pain often have degenerative disc disease or bulging/herniation of one or more lumbar discs. This disc disease sometimes requires surgery. Indeed the most common Neurosurgical procedure is surgical discectomy.
Now there is a new option for those patients with contained, herniated disc disease who have failed conservative treatments and epidural steroid injections. It is the Percutaneous Discectomy with the new Stryker probe. The procedure itself is not new, having been performed for over fifteen years. The probe technology is new and I believe superior to any previous method to date. The central portion of the disc is removed, alleviating pressure on the annular (outer) fibers of the disc and herniation or bulge, decreasing the pain impulses generated by those sensitive annular fibers.
This procedure has similar success rates to open surgery but should not result in the scarring inherent in any open surgery. The fibrosis surrounding nerve roots that may result in postoperative life long back pain should be avoided. There is less risk associated with the percutaneous disc removal, though complications can occur with any technique. There include infection, bleeding, nerve damage from the needle, worse pain, weakness, or allergic reaction.
We perform the percutaneous discectomy at The Surgery Center of Coulmbia under local anesthesia with sedation as an outpatient procedure. So far each patient has improved without complication. If you have continued back pain with bulges or herniation, please contact us for consultation to determine if you are a candidate. We may be able to vastly decrease your pain and help you avoid surgery.