[Perspectives in the treatment of some types of pain using lasers. Histological correlation with experimental...

Treatment of some painful syndromes in the innervation area of spinal ganglia, particular in persisting pain after operations of prolapsed intervertebral discs or operations of the discs, call for new therapeutic methods. Promising possibilities are elimination of the spinal ganglion or nucleolysis of the disc by laser rays, as revealed by experimental studies in vitro and histological check-up of the affected tissue. Three concentric layers of the focus, the carbonization zone, the zones of evaporization and coagulation display irreversible changes which are prerequisites of a permanent effect.