Patient-Reported Outcome Measures following Coblation Nucleoplasty for Cervical Discogenic Dizziness.

Area of Science:

• Neurosurgery
• Orthopedics
• Pain Management

Background:

• Limited research compares coblation nucleoplasty to conservative care for cervical discogenic dizziness.
• Minimal clinically important differences (MCID) and patient acceptable symptom state (PASS) rates are often unreported post-surgery.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) after coblation nucleoplasty for cervical discogenic dizziness.
• To compare the efficacy of coblation nucleoplasty against prolonged conservative treatment.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective study of 61 patients with cervical discogenic dizziness.
• 40 patients underwent single-level cervical coblation nucleoplasty; 21 received conservative treatment.
• Assessed dizziness intensity/frequency, Neck Disability Index (NDI), and Visual Analog Scale (VAS) for neck pain over 12 months.

Main Results:

• Both groups showed improvements, but surgery group had significantly lower dizziness, neck pain, and NDI scores.
• Coblation nucleoplasty group achieved significantly higher rates of PASS and MCID for all assessed indexes.
• Conservative group showed no significant improvement in dizziness frequency at 6 and 12 months.

Conclusions:

• Cervical coblation nucleoplasty is superior to conservative treatment for cervical discogenic dizziness.
• It effectively improves dizziness, neck pain, and NDI, offering a viable option for chronic, refractory cases.