Herniated disks unchanged over time: Size reduced after oxygen-ozone therapy

Abstract

The spontaneous regression of disk herniation secondary to dehydration is a much-debated topic in medicine. Some physicians wonder whether surgical removal of the extruded nucleus pulposus is really necessary when the spontaneous disappearance of a herniated lumbar disk is a well-known phenomenon. Unfortunately, without spontaneous regression, chronic pain leads to progressive disability for which surgery seems to be the only solution. In recent years, several studies have demonstrated the utility of oxygen-ozone therapy in the treatment of disk herniation, resulting in disk shrinkage. This retrospective study evaluates the outcomes of a series of patients with a history of herniated disks neuroradiologically unchanged in size for over two years, treated with oxygen-ozone therapy at our center over the last 15 years. We treated 96 patients, 84 (87.5%) presenting low back pain complicated or not by chronic sciatica. No drug therapy had yielded significant benefits. A number of specialists had been consulted in two or more years resulting in several neuroradiological scans prior to the decision to undertake oxygen-ozone therapy. Our study documents how ozone therapy for slipped disks "unchanged over time" solved the problem, with disk disruption or a significant reduction in the size of the prolapsed disk material extruded into the spinal canal.

Keywords: Lumbar disk herniation; ozone therapy.

Figure 1.

(a) CT scan of a 66-year-old woman with L4–L5 left disk herniation (arrow). (b, c) MR follow-up scans after 2 years showing no change in the herniated disk (March 2004) (arrows). (d) MR follow-up scan in Jan 2005, showing no change in the herniated disk (arrows). (e–h) MR follow-up scans (before and after gadolinium injection) in August 2005 one month after oxygen–ozone therapy. The hernia has completed disappeared.

Figure 2.

MR scan of 66-year-old woman on 12 November 2011 showing left herniated disk in L4–L5 (arrows). (c, d) MR follow-up scan on 6 September 2012 showing no change in the herniated disk (arrows). (e, f) MR follow-up scan (22 April 2013) after ozone therapy.

Figure 3.

(a, b) CT scan showing large L5–S1 left herniated disk (arrows). CT scan after one year showing no change in the herniated disk (arrows). (e, f) CT follow-up scan after ozone treatment showing complete resolution of the herniated disk.

Figure 4.

(a) Intraforaminal injection: correct position of the needle (arrows) and (b) control of the gas mixture (arrows).