Oxygen–Ozone Therapy for Degenerative Spine Disease in the Elderly: A Prospective Study

Abstract

We describe our experience of oxygen-ozone therapy to treat degenerative spine disease in the elderly. From April 2004 to March 2008 we selected 129 patients with CT and/or MR evidence of spondyloarthrosis and disc degeneration of the lumbar spine. All patients enrolled in the study had contraindications to the administration of commonly used analgesic and anti-inflammatory drugs.Oxygen-ozone therapy was given by CT-guided intraforaminal injection as the first treatment followed by 4 weekly paralumbar infiltrations on an outpatient basis. The full treatment lasted a month. Clinical outcome was assessed 3 months and 1 year after treatment. The good results obtained indicate that oxygen-ozone therapy is an ideal treatment with no side-effects in elderly patients with degenerative spine disease.

Role of ozone nuleolysis in management of discogenic pain in lumbar and lumbosacral disc prolapse

“…11,12 The dose of ozone is crucial and must not exceed the capacity of antioxidant enzyme and glutathione to prevent accumulation of the superoxide anion and hydrogen peroxide, which can cause cell membrane degradation. 13,14 Following intradiscal administration of ozone-oxygen mixture, patients were followed-up at one month, three months and six months interval using the visual analogue scale, Oswestry low back pain disability index and modified MacNab criterion. [15][16][17] The reduction of VAS score from baseline (mean 8.46±SD 0.67 ) to one month following treatment was 3.8±1.29, at three months 3.1±0.7 and at six months follow up 3.78±1.13 ( p value using Wilcoxon's paired signed rank test, was < 0.0001 which is significant) ( Table 5).…”

“…Bonetti et Al also reported successful results in 74.4% patients after six months. 13,14 Most of the authors reported 65%-85% successful outcome in their studies. [4][5][6][7]18 In our study, Ozone not only reduces nerve root compression by reducing the size of the disc, it also helps to reduce venous stasis caused by compression of vessels and hence improves the microcirculation and supply of oxygen.…”

Ozone therapy – a rare and avoidable source of infectious pathology of the spine

“…However, it is realized in some countries in Europe (France, Italy, Spain) or South America (Brazil), with local license by their national health services, mostly in private practice as high rewarding for those who realize it. In Italy, for instance, there is even "Rivista italiana di Ossigeno-Ozonoterapia" founded in 2002, with papers mainly from Italy, Spain, Cuba and Brazil [3] which evolved in 2008 as the"International Journal of Ozone Therapy" , together with a World federation for Oxygen-Ozone Therapy [4] Production: medical ozone is obtained from pure medical oxygen to avoid the presence of toxic byproducts and other gases. Conversion is achieved with ozone generators, close to the moment of use, due to gas lability.…”

“…They administered ozone intraforaminally with CT guidance followed by 4 paralumbar injections weekly, on a serie of 129 elderly people with degenerative spine disease. The amelioration at 3-6 months made them conclude that ozone therapy is a safe, repeatable and innocuous treatment [3]. In another serie of 306 patients, Bonetti reported that 57.5% of 80 patients in the disc disease group treated with steroid deemed the clinical outcome to be excellent, whereas in the ozone therapy group, 74.4% of 86 patients with disc disease reported complete remission of pain [6].…”

Paravertebral injections: techniques and indications

“…Based on this empirical approach, and the publications that have already used them , the indications of these injections are: -Disc herniation [1][2] -Spondylolysis [10] -Spondylosis [11][12][13][14] -Lumbar spinal stenosis [7,15] -Symptomatic treatment of facet joint disease [7] -Mechanical low back pain These injections may have side effects due to the technique itself, not the ozone, but we have few reports on anecdotal cases, most of them without aftermath.…”