Percutaneous Coblation Nucleoplasty in Patients with Contained Lumbar Disc Prolapse : One Year Follow-Up in a Prospective Case Series

Abstract

Background:clinical outcome data was analyzed for 100 patients withcontained disc herniation who underwent percutaneous discdecompression procedure using Coblation® technology,after failing to respond toconservative management. Patients and Methods: Patients presented with clinicalsymptoms of discogenic low back pain and/or leg painFollow-up data was collected up to 12 months.Patient gender distribution was 68% female, 32% male, witha mean age of 39 years.With mean duration of back pain of 8.57 ,ranging from 3 to 17 month and mean duration of leg pain of 4.36 .ranging from 2 to 10 monthaccording to visual analogue scale for pain assessment.The mean pre-procedure pain level for all patients wasReported as 7.56 for back and 7.72 for leg while average pain level was 4.86 for back and 3.42 for leg at the 12-month follow-up post procedure period. And according to Oswestry disability index for functional assessment. The mean pre procedure index was 31.48 range from 23-40. It decreased after 12 month to 13.82 range from 5-32. Results:The results of this analysis indicated that PDD usingCoblation technology, isan effective procedure for patients presenting withdiscogenic back and/or leg pain who have failed conservativetherapies.