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. 2020 Sep;10(6):729-734.
doi: 10.1177/2192568219873885. Epub 2019 Sep 6.

Percutaneous Cement Discoplasty for the Treatment of Advanced Degenerative Disc Conditions: A Case Series Analysis

Gaston Camino Willhuber  1 , Gonzalo Kido  1 , Matias Pereira Duarte  1 , Martin Estefan  1 , Mariana Bendersky  1 , Julio Bassani  1 , Matias Petracchi  1 , Marcelo Gruenberg  1 , Carlos Sola  1
Affiliations

Percutaneous Cement Discoplasty for the Treatment of Advanced Degenerative Disc Conditions: A Case Series Analysis

Gaston Camino Willhuber et al. Global Spine J. 2020 Sep.

Abstract

Study design: Retrospective analysis. Level of evidence III.

Objectives: To describe the results after a minimum 1-year follow-up in patients treated with percutaneous discoplasty (PD), a minimally invasive technique to treat low back pain in elderly patients with advanced degenerative disc disease. The procedure consists in improving stability by injecting bone cement in a severely degenerated pneumodisc. There are few reports in the literature about this technique.

Methods: Fifty-four patients with advanced disc disease with/without degenerative scoliosis treated with PD with at least 1 year follow-up were studied, variables included clinical (visual analogue scale [VAS] and Owestry Disability Index [ODI]) and radiological parameters (lumbar lordosis and Cobb angle), as well as hospital length of stay and complications.

Results: At 1-year postoperation, significant pain reduction (VAS: preoperative 7.8 ± 0.90; postoperative 4.4 ± 2.18) and improvement in the ODI (preoperative 62 ± 7.12; postoperative 36.2 ± 15.47) were observed with partial correction of radiological parameters (5° mean increase in lumbar lordosis and decrease in Cobb angle). Mean surgical time was 38 minutes, and the mean length of hospital stay was 1.2 days.

Conclusion: PD, currently not a very well-known technique, appears to be-at least in the short-term follow-up-an effective treatment option in selected cases with low back pain due to advanced degenerative disc disease.

Keywords: advanced disc disease; cement spacer; degenerative scoliosis; minimally invasive surgery; percutaneous discoplasty.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Visual analogue scale (VAS) score, the mean ± SD preoperative value (7.8 ± 0.90), immediate and 1-year postoperative values of 3.8 ± 2.38 and 4.4 ± 2.18, respectively (P < .0001). No differences were observed in the scoliotic and nonscoliotic groups.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Preoperative (62 ± 7.12) and 1-year postoperative (36.2 ± 15.47) Oswestry Disability Index scores with a mean improvement of 42% (P < .0001). No differences were observed in the scoliotic and nonscoliotic groups.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
(A-D) Anteroposterior and lateral standing lumbar X-rays showing segmental changes in alignment at the L2-L3 affected level before and after percutaneous discoplasty.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Preoperative and postoperative X-rays of a 78-year-old woman with degenerative scoliosis on whom L1-L2 and L3-S1 discoplasties were performed. Improvement in lumbar lordosis and scoliosis curve is observed.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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