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| |  Percutaneous Disc Decompression Reduces Pain in Patients With Sciatica: Presented at RSNA By Charlene Laino CHICAGO -- December 4, 2009 -- For patients with sciatica, percutaneous disc decompression significantly reduces pain at 12 and 24 months, compared with conservative therapy alone, a prospective study suggests. Alexios Kelekis, MD, PhD, University of Athens, Athens, Greece, presented the findings here on December 2 at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) 95th Annual Meeting. The study involved 2 homogenous groups of 17 men and 14 women suffering from sciatica due to intervertebral disc herniation. All patients complained of back and leg pain. Their mean age was 36 years. All the patients underwent 6 weeks of rigourous conservative therapy consisting of analgesics, anti-inflammatory drugs, muscle relaxants, and physiotherapy. The conservative treatments failed to reduce pain or improve mobility in half the patients, so they went on to receive percutaneous disc decompression. The researchers relied on clinical evaluation and a 10-unit visual analogue scale questionnaire to evaluate patients’ pain over a 2-year period. The group that only received conservative therapy had a mean pain score of 6.87 units at baseline. It dropped to 0.9 units at 3 months, but then increased to 3.96 units at 12 months and 4.09 units at 24 months. The group that underwent percutaneous disc decompression had a mean pain score of 7.4 units prior to the intervention. It dropped to 2.9 units at 3 months after disc compression and further decreased to 1.66 units at 12 months and then to 1.6 units at 24 months. “Comparing the results of the 2 groups, a statistically significant difference [P <= .01] was noted at 12 and 24 months,” Dr. Kelekis told a news briefing. None of the patients suffered procedure-related complications. Dr. Kelekis said that the procedure is performed on an outpatient basis under local anaesthesia, and patients are usually able to return to normal activities within 30 days. [Presentation title: Comparative Prospective Study Between Conservative Treatment and Percutaneous Disc Decompression for the Treatment of Intervertebral Disc Herniation. Abstract SSK13-05]
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