Clinical Efficacy of Nucleoplasty for Lumbar Herniated Disc Disease in Elderly Patient

, Woo Jung Lim; , Jin Woo Hur; , Seong Yeol Ahn; , Jong Joo Rhee; , Jong Won Lee; , Hyun Koo Lee

Clinical Article

Journal of Korean Society of Geriatric Neurosurgery 2016;12(2):258-263.
Published online September 30, 2016.

Clinical Efficacy of Nucleoplasty for Lumbar Herniated Disc Disease in Elderly Patient

Woo Jung Lim , Jin Woo Hur , Seong Yeol Ahn , Jong Joo Rhee , Jong Won Lee , Hyun Koo Lee

Department of Neurosurgery, CheongJu St. Mary’s Hospital, Cheongju, Korea

노인 환자에서 요추간판 탈출증에 대한 최소 침습적 치료로 고주파 수핵 성형술의 효과에 대한 연구

임우정·허진우·안성열·이종주·이종원·이현구

청주성모병원 신경외과

Abstract

Objective
The Nucleoplasty is a minimally invasive intervention use to perform disc decompression in cases of pain caused by disc herniation. The authors intended to describe the efficacy of nucleoplasty for lumbar herniated disc disease in elderly patients.
Methods
From March 2014 to March 2016, the authors performed nucleoplasty for 28 consecutive patients older than 60-year‐old and evaluate short‐term(until 3 months) results after the procedure. Patients were given a neurologic examination, visual analogue scale (VAS) before and after the procedure. Patients with spinal instability, motor weakness were excluded.
Results
Male was outnumbered female by 17 to 11 and age was ranged from 60 to 93 years old (mean 68). Procedures were performed at single level in 24 cases and two levels in 4 cases. The L4‐5 level was the most commonly involved. Mean VAS scores of pre‐ and post‐procedure were 7.29±0.46 and 2.93±0.86. Overall it showed a decrease of mean VAS score by 3.4 and it was statistically significant (p<0.001). It showed more decrease of mean VAS score in patient without moderate to severe stenosis than in patient with it, but it was not statistically significant.
Conclusion
Nucleoplasty can be used as a minimally invasive therapy for patients over 60 with lumbar herniated disc disease. Nucleoplasty can be considered when accompanying spinal stenosis over moderate severity as it showed its effect in reducing a pain.

Key Words: Disc Herniation, Nucleoplasty, Elderly