For individuals diagnosed with a contained herniated disc or protruding disc, which are suffering from leg or lower back pain - one newer treatment option for pain relief is nucleoplasty.
Nucleoplasty provides a minimally invasive spine treatment alternative. With this minimally invasive spine procedure, radio waves which produce energy are used to dissolve (ablate) the unwanted disc tissue, and this relieves the pressure causing the lower back pain or leg pain.
This procedure is performed by a physician who is a minimally invasive spine specialist. During this spine procedure, which takes less than an hour, the patient is awake and the physician will use a local anesthetic. Guided by fluoroscopy (internal X-ray), the physician will insert a catheter-like device to the affected spinal disc. This catheter will deliver small amounts of radio wave energy to the damaged disc that will create a molecular reaction that will result in the spongy tissue in the damaged disc to dissolve. This will reduce the pressure in the damaged disc, and thereby allow the herniation in the disc to retract. The goal of nuceloplasty, is to reduce the pressure on the affected nerve and therefore eliminate back pain.
