Ozone injection with or without percutaneous microdiscectomy for treatment of cervical disc herniation

This retrospective study compared the efficacy of combined percutaneous ozone injection and percutaneous discectomyto percutaneous ozone injection alone for the treatment of cervical disc herniation.

Patients with cervical disc herniation who were enrolled in our hospital from October 2010 to June 2015 were divided into two groups: 1) treated with percutaneous ozone injection alone (control; n= 19); and 2) those treated with combined ozone injection and percutaneous microdiscectomy (combined treatment; n= 28). The efficacy of the combined treatment was evaluated relative to the control by visual analogue scale (VAS) and the modified Macnab standard. Effective treatment was defined as excellent or good, and ineffective as fair or poor.

No major complications occurred in either group. For the control group, the VAS scores dropped from 6.75 ± 2.34 before surgery to 2.78 ± 1.85 immediately after surgery, and to 4.18 ± 1.46 during the follow-ups. For patients who received the combined treatment, the VAS scores were 7.12 ± 2.03 before surgery, 3.86 ± 2.87 immediately after surgery, and 3.27 ± 1.53 during the follow-ups. At the 6-month follow-up, 73.7% (14 from 19 patients) in the control group and 89.2% (25 from 28 patients) in the treatment group were judged to have received effective treatment. Difference in efficacy between two groups of treatment was statistically significant (P= 0.033).

The rate of effective treatment in patients who received combined percutaneous microdiscectomy and ozone injection was higher than that of patients who received ozone injection alone. Combination of percutaneous microdiscectomy and ozone injection might be an effective method to treat patients with cervical disk hernia.