A patient in his 40s undergoing PLDD (Percutaneous Laser Disc Decompression) for Disc Herniation

Patient Information

Male, age 40s

Disease/Symptoms

• Disc Herniation

Patient Condition

Since three years ago, the patient has experienced lower back pain, but the condition worsened after moving in March of this year, so decided to come to our clinic.

Examination

This is the MRI result of the waist. The disc between the 5th lumbar vertebra and the 1st sacral vertebra slightly protrudes, so it was diagnosed as disc herniation. The disc thickness is still maintained.

Treatment

PLDD (Percutaneous Laser Disc Decompression)

There were no neurological symptoms in the legs, the disc thickness remains maintained, and the discography examination showed increased pressure inside the disc, so we decided to perform PLDD (Percutaneous Laser Disc Decompression).

The patient did not want the use of sedation, so we only used local anesthesia.

This is the process of inserting the needle for the discography examination. As expected, no damage to the disc was found, but increased pressure inside the disc was detected.

This is the process of semiconductor laser irradiation into the disc. There are no nerves inside the disc, so the patient does not feel pain.

This is a test of semiconductor laser irradiation. The laser will be irradiated like this. The treatment time is 12 minutes.

Words from the Clinic Head

Today, Deputy Clinic Head Ishida is on a business trip to the Tokyo clinic, so it was a very busy day. I did not have time for lunch, so I feel my body has become a little slimmer. Haha.

By the way, yesterday the Hanshin Tigers won dramatically in the 9th inning against DeNA. It was amazing.