Discoplasty with Hydrogel

Discoplasty with Hydrogel

Discoplasty with Hydrogel as a precautionary treatment of the degenerative disc disease.

Lower back pain is connected with standing up and walking and, therefore, is a common symptom that has been making lives difficult since man first walked on Earth. There is no single person who has not felt at least light pain in the lower back. This is a symptom affecting 5% of the planet population every year.

The natural damage of the intervertebral discs, the natural shock absorbers of the spine, is scientifically called degenerative disc disease and it is the most common cause of lower back pain with no sciatica. Small injuries caused by the continuous mobility and force on the discs are the most common reason behind this degenerative process.
The dehydration of the central part of the disc (that is the nucleus pulposus) and cracks in the peripheral part of the disc (that is the fibrous ring) are the most common pathoanatomical damages that take place within a degenerated disc. We can see the final result that looks like a black disc with an MRI scan on the lower back. This black disc is shorter than the neighboring, normal, intervertebral discs.

Traditional treatment of a painful degenerated disc (with no herniation) is surgical with either posterior access (posterior lumbar fusion with screw/bar placement and TLIF with cage and bone implant).