Percutaneous discoplasty can result as an alternative minimal invasive strategy for the treatment of advanced degenerative disk disease.

Study Design: Retrospective analysis. Level of evidence III. Objectives: To describe the results after a minimum 1-year follow-up in patients treated with percutaneous discoplasty (PD), a minimally invasive technique to treat low back pain in elderly patients with advanced degenerative disc disease. The procedure consists in improving stability by injecting bone cement in a severely degenerated pneumodisc. There are few reports in the literature about this technique. Methods: Fifty-four patients with advanced disc disease with/without degenerative scoliosis treated with PD with at least 1 year follow-up were studied, variables included clinical (visual analogue scale [VAS] and Owestry Disability Index [ODI]) and radiological parameters (lumbar lordosis and Cobb angle), as well as hospital length of stay and complications. Results: At 1-year postoperation, significant pain reduction (VAS: preoperative 7.8 ± 0.90; postoperative 4.4 ± 2.18) and improvement in the ODI (preoperative 62 ± 7.12; postoperative 36.2 ± 15.47) were observed with partial correction of radiological parameters (5° mean increase in lumbar lordosis and decrease in Cobb angle). Mean surgical time was 38 minutes, and the mean length of hospital stay was 1.2 days. Conclusion: PD, currently not a very well-known technique, appears to be—at least in the short-term follow-up—an effective treatment option in selected cases with low back pain due to advanced degenerative disc disease.

The spine care community needs to develop (or update) high-quality treatment guidelines. The process should be transparent, methodologically rigorous, and consistent with the Appraisal of Guidelines Research and Evaluation and Institute of Medicine recommendations. This effort should be collaborative across specialty/society groups and would benefit from patient and public input. Payer policies and treatment guidelines need to be transparent and based on the highest quality evidence available. Clinicians from specialty/society groups, guideline developers and policy makers should collaborate on their development. This process would also benefit from public and patient input.

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Considering the experience of the few cases reported in the world literature, the management of this tumor appears to grant favorable results, recurrence being the most frequent complication.