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Are outer annular fissures stimulated during diskography the source of diskogenic low-back pain? An analysis of
Michael J DePalma1, Jeong-Eun Lee, Lane Peterson
1Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Virginia Commonwealth University/Medical College of Virginia Hospitals, Richmond, VA 23235, USA. depalmamj8@yahoo.com
Objective:
This study aimed to clarify whether painful annular fissures stimulated during provocation diskography are the likely source of diskogenic pain.
Design:
A retrospective analysis was conducted of prospectively collected data.
Setting:
Multidisciplinary, academic spine center.
Patients:
The study was completed in a cohort of 28 consecutive patients were enrolled presenting with 6 months duration of axial low-back pain recalcitrant to physical therapy, oral analgesics, and epidural steroid injections and who have diskogenic pain based on history, exam, magnetic resonance imaging, and diskography.
Interventions:
Subjects underwent provocation diskography and analgesic diskography utilizing a balloon-tipped intradiskal catheter allowing intradiskal injection of anesthetic.
Outcome Measures:
Visual analog scale, finger-to-floor distance were utilized as outcome measures.
Results:
80% of painful intervertebral disks as detected by provocation diskography were sufficiently anesthetized resulting in >50% reduction in low-back pain during analgesic diskography.
Conclusion:
Diskogenic pain is in varying degrees caused by the sensitized nociocepters within annular tears.
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