Evaluation of nucleoplasty in patients of low back pain with radiculopathy: A preliminary report

Abstract

Introduction:Low back pain (LBP) has a point prevalence of 11.9 ± 2% worldwide. Nucleoplasty is a minimally invasive procedure, combining disc removal and thermal coagulation using radiofrequency waves in the nucleus pulposus. The purpose of this preliminary study was toevaluate the efficacy of nucleoplasty in patients with low back pain and radiculopathy, and to have comparative evaluation of the disc appearance on MRI pre- and post-procedure.