Medium-term follow-up findings in imaging manifestation after percutaneous laser disc decompression

The purpose of this study was to observe the midterm follow-up findings of the change in imaging manifestation after percutaneous laser disc decompression (PLDD), and to evaluate the safety and efficacy of this operation.

A retrospective review of the imaging manifestation of the 22 patients with cervical and lumbar vertebra disease who were treated by PLDD was analyzed.

There was no significant difference in the anterior, middle, and posterior height of the intervertebral spaces of pathological discs before and after operation in the last follow-up (p>0.05). Preoperative herniation indices of the lesion segments of cervical disc ranged from 0.10 to ∼0.54, whereas the indices ranged from 0.06 to ∼0.39 at the last follow-up, that is, they diminished distinctly (p<0.05). Preoperative herniation indices of the lesion segments of lumbar disc ranged from 0 to ∼0.71, whereas the indices ranged from 0 to ∼0.48 at the last follow-up, which had significant statistical difference (p<0.01).

PLDD did not obviously lower the height of the intervertebral space, instead, it could effectively promote the reduction of disc herniation. By analyzing the medical images, we found that PLDD is a safe and effective minimal invasive surgery for cervical and lumbar disc diseases.