Abstract
Objective: To report on the outcomes resulting from the use of the Dekompressor, a novel percutaneous decompression technology, to treat patients with lumbar radiculopathy secondary to a herniated disk, who failed comprehensive conservative treatment. Design: Prospective. Setting: Academic spine center. Participants: 47. Interventions: Consecutive patients with lumbar radiculopathy due to a diffuse bulge causing central stenosis, focal protrusion, or disk extrusion. Symptoms, examination, and magnetic resonance imaging had to be corroborative. Each subject failed to improve after a minimum of 4 weeks of physical therapy, oral anti-inflammatories, and epidural space steroid injections. Each subject underwent percutaneous decompression with the Dekompressor immediately followed by a therapeutic selective nerve root block. Main Outcome Measures: Medication usage, Owestry Disability Index (ODI), and visual analog scale (VAS). Results: Average duration of symptoms prior to percutaneous decompression was 37 weeks. 41 of 47 patients remained in the study at 6 months. Of the 6 patients who dropped out prior to 6 months, 4 went to surgery, 1 for acupuncture, and 1 found relief with the use of pregabalin (Lyrica). For 41 patients, the average ODI score dropped from 47.2% to 23% (P<.001), representing a change of 1 full category of disability. A patient underwent percutaneous decompression to treat weakness because there was no pain. For the other 40 patients, the VAS for leg pain was 7.3 preprocedure and 1.7 at 6 months postprocedure (P<.001). 43% had a VAS score of 0, 63% had a VAS score of 1 or less, and 75% had a VAS score of 2 or less. Medication usage dropped from an average score of 3.2 to 2.2 (P<.001). Conclusions: The preliminary data from this pilot study reveal that Dekompressor may be an effective tool to treat lumbar radiculopathy. More definitive conclusions can be made after the 1-year and 2-year data are collected and analyzed.
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