Bhagia SM. Slipman CW. Nirschl M. Isaac Z. El-Abd O. Sharps LS. Garvin C. Side effects and complications after percutaneous disc decompression using coblation technology. American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation . 85(1):6-13, 2006 Jan.
Bridwell KH. Anderson PA. Boden SD. Vaccaro AR. Wang JC. What's new in spine surgery. Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery - American Volume. 90(7):1609-19, 2008 Jul.
Cohen SP. Williams S. Kurihara C. Griffith S. Larkin TM. Nucleoplasty with or without intradiscal electrothermal therapy (IDET) as a treatment for lumbar herniated disc. Journal of Spinal Disorders & Techniques . 18 Suppl:S119-24, 2005 Feb.
Conn's Current Therapy 2001. 53rd ed. WB Saunders Company; 2001.
Pain. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke website. Available at: http://www.ninds.n... . Accessed October 27, 2008.
Sciatica. American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons website. Available at: http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00351 . Accessed October 27, 2008.
Textbook of Primary Care Medicine. 3rd ed. Mosby, Inc.; 2001.
Updated Disketomy section on 6/7/2007 according to the following study, as cited by http://www.ebscohost.com/dynamed/what.php : Peul WC, van Houwelingen HC, van den Hout WB, et al. Surgery versus prolonged conservative treatment for sciatica. N Engl J Med. 2007;356:2245-2256.
Weinstein JN, Tosteson TD, Lurie JD, et al. Surgical vs nonoperative treatment for lumbar disk herniation: the Spine Patient Outcomes Research Trial (SPORT): a randomized trial. JAMA . 2006;296:2441–50.
Weinstein JN, Lurie JD, Tosteson TD, et al. Surgical vs nonoperative treatment for lumbar disk herniation: the Spine Patient Outcomes Research Trial (SPORT) observational cohort. JAMA . 2006;296:2451–9.
Zindrick MR. Tzermiadianos MN. Voronov LI. Lorenz M. Hadjipavlou A. An evidence-based medicine approach in determining factors that may affect outcome in lumbar total disc replacement. Spine . 33(11):1262-9, 2008 May 15.
Nucleoplasty is one of the newer, less-invasive surgical procedures. This procedure typically uses radio waves to treat patients with low back pain caused by a contained or mildly-herniated disc.
In nucleoplasty, the surgeon inserts a wand-like transmitter into the disc while the patient is awake but lightly sedated. Guided by x-ray imaging, the surgeon sends radiofrequency pulses into the nucleus or center of the disc. The radiofrequency energy heats and shrinks the gel-like tissue, resulting in less volume and thus relieving pressure on the nerve impacted by the bulging disc. The entire procedure lasts about 30 minutes.
