Full-endoscopic Intradiscal Surgery: State of the Art

Abstract

Two types of full-endoscopic intradiscal surgery have been described in the literature. The first is full-endoscopic thermal annuloplasty, which was introduced in 2004 for discogenic pain. The proposed pain generator is a high signal intensity zone or a toxic annular tear, which can be treated by full-endoscopic thermal annuloplasty using a bipolar radio-pulse device. The second is full-endoscopic disc cleaning surgery, which is more recent and has been used to treat intractable chronic low back pain due to type 1 Modic change. In this review, we describe the current status of full-endoscopic intradiscal surgery.

Keywords

• full-endoscopic spine surgery
• thermal annuloplasty
• disc cleaning
• local anesthesia