Percutaneous disc decompression using coblation (nucleoplasty) in the treatment of chronic discogenic pain.

Clinical outcome data was analyzed for 67 patients with contained disc herniation who underwent percutaneous disc decompression procedure using Coblation(R) technology, also referred to as Nucleoplasty after failing to respond to conservative management. Patients presented with clinical symptoms of discogenic low back pain and/or leg pain and were not considered candidates for open surgery. Follow-up data was collected up to 12 months. Patient gender distribution was 70% female, 30% male, with a mean age of 44 years. The onset of the pain was predominantly of nontraumatic origin with an average duration of pain of 5.4 years ranging from 4 months to 29 years with history of previous surgical intervention in 13% of the patients. At 1 year, 80% of the patients demonstrated statistically significant improvement in numeric pain scores. Average pre-procedure pain level for all patients was reported as 6.8 while average pain level was 4.1 at the 12 month follow-up period. Statistically significant improvement was observed in 62%, 59%, and 60% of patients in sitting, standing, and walking ability at 12 months, respectively. The results of this analysis indicated that PDD using Coblation technology, also referred to as Nucleoplasty, is an effective procedure for patients presenting with discogenic back and/or leg pain who have failed conservative therapies and are not considered candidates for open surgical interventions.