Nucleoplasty in a patient with cervical disc extrusion with radiating pain of an upper extremity

Ro, Ji Yung; Oh, Chung Sik; Kim, Ok Sun; Kim, Duk Kyung; Woo, Nam Sik; Shin, Hwa Yong

Case Report

Spinal Pain

Anesthesia and Pain Medicine 2009;4(3):203-207.
Published online July 31, 2009.

Nucleoplasty in a patient with cervical disc extrusion with radiating pain of an upper extremity

Ji Yung Ro, Chung Sik Oh, Ok Sun Kim, Duk Kyung Kim, Nam Sik Woo, Hwa Yong Shin

Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Konkuk Medical Center, Seoul, Korea. pain@kuh.ac.kr

Abstract

Conventional open discectomy is considered as the standard treatment for cervical disc herniation.However, open discectomy does not always yield a successful result.Nucleoplasty is a newly developed minimal invasive spinal surgery that uses the Coblation technique.The concept of Coblation involves the use of radiofrequency energy to ablate the nucleus pulposus tissue in a controlled approach leading to reduction of pressure on the nerve roots.Inclusion criteria for candidates for nucleoplasty include complaints of symptoms related to a contained herniated disc or focal protrusion.We describe here our experience with the use of nucleoplasty for a 49-year-old male patient with a cervical disc extrusion.Percutaneous decompression with nucleoplasty using the Coblation technique for the treatment of cervical disc extrusion was successfully performed with an excellent result.

Key Words: cervical, disc, nucleoplasty