It is a fact that the discogram is less regarding the anatomy of the disc and rather regarding its physiology in order to decide whether the disc is causing pain. It is common to discographers that an extremely strange looking disc may not be the cause of the pain and a slightly disrupted disc might be related to serious pain. It is difficult to conclusively diagnose a painful disc without performing discography.
The extremely sensitive anatomic tests are the lumbar MRI and CT myelogram yet are not quite certain in characterizing real pain generators. Whenever the lumbar discogram is performed appropriately, is intended to induce pain in a sensitive disc. A spinal fusion strategy that is intended to eliminate an internally upset, painful disc would not be the procedure of choice in the event that pressurization of the disc didn’t repeat the patient’s clinical discomfort. In this case, the spine specialist should be certain beyond a shadow of a doubt that the level or levels being fused are responsible for the patient’s pain.
In the event that the fused levels were not at first agonizing, as a result, spine surgery won’t be operational, and the patient will be left with a fused spine most likely still be in pain. Based on the fact that a spine fusion procedure brings a noteworthy level of risk and healing time, the more information that can be acquired before back surgery the better.
In the case of lumbar discography, an injection is used with an objective to assess patients with back pain who have not reacted to extensive conservative (nonsurgical) procedures. The most common utilization of discography is for surgical planning before a lumbar fusion.
This diagnostic process additionally recognized as discogram is a controversial one.
- The experts of discography believe the information obtained from this examination is unobtainable any other way.
- The procedure’s experts believe the reactions evoked from disc pressurization are not valuable in assessing back pain patients.
Possible Risks and Complexities of a Discography
As compared to any other invasive test, there are related risks and conceivable complications.
- The most dreaded complexity is a disc space infection, which can be hard to treat. Luckily, by utilizing severe sterile strategies this is a phenomenal complexity.
- There are very remote chances of nerve root damage
- Spinal headache is additionally a remote risk
However, with an experienced and skilled discographer who utilizes current discography procedures, these risks are usually avoidable.