Effectiveness of intradiscal injection of radiopaque gelified ethanol (DiscoGel ® ) versus percutaneous laser disc decompression in patients with chronic radicular low back pain

• Published in: The Korean journal of pain Vol. 33; no. 1; pp. 66 - 72
• Main Authors: Hashemi, Masoud, Dadkhah, Payman, Taheri, Mehrdad, Katibeh, Pegah, Asadi, Saman
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Korean
• Published: 대한통증학회 31.01.2020
• Subjects: Chronic Pain; Disability Evaluation; Discectomy; Intervertebral Disc; Low Back Pain; Pain Management; Radiculopathy; Visual Analog Scale; Disability Evaluation; Intervertebral Disc; Pain Management; Visual Analog Scale; Low Back Pain; Radiculopathy; Discectomy; Chronic Pain
• ISSN: 2005-9159

Background: Low back pain secondary to discopathy is a common pain disorder. Multiple minimally invasive therapeutic modalities have been proposed; however, to date no study has compared percutaneous laser disc decompression (PLDD) with intradiscal injection of radiopaque gelified ethanol (DiscoGel ® ). We are introducing the first study on patient-reported outcomes of DiscoGel ® vs. PLDD for radiculopathy. Methods: Seventy-two patients were randomly selected from either a previous strategy of PLDD or DiscoGel ® , which had been performed in our center during 2016- 2017. Participants were asked about their numeric rating scale (NRS) scores, Oswestry disability index (ODI) scores, and progression to secondary treatment. Results: The mean NRS scores in the total cohort before intervention was 8.0, and was reduced to 4.3 in the DiscoGel ® group and 4.2 in the PLDD group after 12 months, which was statistically significant. The mean ODI score before intervention was 81.25% which was reduced to 41.14% in the DiscoGel ® group and 52.86% in the PLDD group after 12 months, which was statistically significant. Between-group comparison of NRS scores after two follow-ups were not statistically different (P = 0.62) but the ODI score in DiscoGel ® was statistically lower (P = 0.001). Six cases (16.67%) from each group reported undergoing surgery after the follow-up period which was not statistically different. Conclusions: Both techniques were equivalent in pain reduction but DiscoGel ® had a greater effect on decreasing disability after 12 months, although the rate of progression to secondary treatments and/or surgery was almost equal in the two groups.