Brad Elder, MD - - Neurosurgery Neurosurgery Brad Elder, MD Greg - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Brad Elder, MD Brad Elder, MD -

• Neurosurgery

Neurosurgery Greg Weidner, MD Greg Weidner, MD -

• Anesthesia

Anesthesia Jennifer Belu, PT, MPH Jennifer Belu, PT, MPH -

• Physical Therapy

Physical Therapy Elizabeth Yu, MD Elizabeth Yu, MD -

• Orthopedics

Orthopedics

Case Presentation – Herniated Lumbar Disc

• A 36 year old male was lifting at work and felt a

twinge in his back.

• That evening, he felt more severe low back pain.
• The pain was so severe, he found it difficult to get
• ut of bed. He could flex minimally.
• On the fifth day the back pain improved and he

began to have pain down the left leg.

• The pain was into the posterior thigh and into the left

heel.

• He had numbness in the small toe and outside of the

right foot.

• When he sneezed or had a bowel movement the leg

pain was increased.

Case Presentation – Herniated Lumbar Disc (cont)

• His exam showed an absent left AJ, a positive

SLR on the left and had no tenderness or weakness.

• With flexion he had pain into the left buttock and

with extension had minimal back pain.

Disk Herniation

• J. Bradley Elder, MD

Assistant Professor Department of Neurological Surgery

Disk herniation - Anatomy

• Tear in the annulus

fibrosus

• Extrusion of nucleus

pulposus

• Disk ‘bulge’ or

‘protrusion’

• No extrusion of nucleus

pulposus outside the borders of the annulus

• Locations
• Posterolateral
• Central
• Far lateral

ELDER

Disk herniation

• Physiology
• Symptoms:
• Radiculopathy
• Back pain
• Neurologic deficits
• Inflammatory reaction

to annular tear can irritate nerve root

• Direct compression of

disk

ELDER

Disk herniation

• Physical examination
• Motor
• Sensory
• Reflexes
• Straight leg raise
• History
• “cough effect”
• No precipitating

event

ELDER

Disk herniation

• Lumbar
• 95% at L4/5 or L5/S1
• Cervical
• C5/6 and C6/7
• Thoracic
• Much less common

ELDER

Disk herniation

• Natural history
• Most patients will improve without surgical

intervention (85% in 6 weeks)

• Urgent surgery – cauda equina, progressive

neurologic deficit, severe motor weakness

• Symptom control
• Activity modifications
• Injections
• Oral medications (pain, steroids, muscle relaxants)
• Surgery

ELDER

Disk herniation

ELDER

The Patient with a Herniated Disc

• Medical management
• Oral Steroids
• NSAIDS
• Muscle relaxants
• Opiates
• Bowel regimen
• Interventional techniques

WEIDNER

The Patient with a Herniated Disc

• Medical Management
• NSAIDS may need to cycle for efficacy
• Opiates Start with mild opiates, limit number,

combine with NSAID, careful with acetaminophen

• Muscle relaxants Carisprodol highly euphoric

inducing

• Gabapentin May help with sleep
• Topical Creams or OTC agents
• Heat and Ice
• Bowel regimen

WEIDNER

The patient with a Herniated Disc

• Interventional Techniques

Transforaminal highly effective for short term relief Surrounds the nerve root with combination of steroid and local anesthetic Intralaminar approach best suited for patient with minimal radicular complaints, e.g., the central disc herniation

WEIDNER

The Patient with a Herniated Disc

• Transforaminal ESI

Believed to be effective by lowering phospholipase levels –PL A2 the rate limiting step in production of leukotriene's and prostaglandins Combining image guided injections with physical therapy described as 90% effective in one study

WEIDNER

WEIDNER

The Patient with a Disc herniation

• Side-Effects
• Insomnia, transient hyperglycemia, local irritation,

leg cramps

• Contraindications to Interventional Techniques

Anti-Coagulant therapy Infection

WEIDNER

18

• Controlling pain
• Centralization of symptoms
• Therapeutic exercise
• Return to activities

BELU

Low Back Pain: Physical Therapy Perspective – Jennifer Belu, PT, MPH

Lumbar HNP: controlling symptoms

• Back “First Aid”
• “neutral spinal position”
• lumbar taping to promotion neutral position
• avoid peripheralization of symptoms
• medication as recommended by primary care

provider

• Positions to alleviate radiculopathy

BELU

Lumbar HNP: Centralization of symptoms

• Assessed at Physical Therapy evaluation: flexion

versus extension bias (typically extension)

• Repeated motions: if result in centralization of

symptoms would utilize in treatment (i.e. McKenzie approach)

• Utilize positional motion/therapeutic exercise to

alleviate symptoms throughout patient’s day

BELU

Lumbar HNP: therapeutic exercise

• Strengthen musculature effected by injury: spinal

“stabilizers”

• Morphologic changes with disc injury in porcine

subjects on ipsilateral lumbar mulitifidi

• Start in positions of most support/least symptoms

(prone, supine knees flexed)

• Move to less supportive, more functional

positions

BELU

Lumbar HNP: return to activities

• Work modifications (standing desk set up for

varying positions)

• Look at home set up (lumbar support when

sitting)

• Walk before jog
• Taming the “weekend warrior”

BELU

INDICATIONS

• Progressive neurological

deficit

• Caudal equina
• Failure of improvement of

extremity symptoms after 6-8 weeks of conservative treatment

• Intractable extremity pain

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/medical/IM01274 Bono, CM. Instructional Course Lectures: Spine 2. 2010.

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Disc Herniations: Surgical Intervention – Elizabeth Yu, MD

CASE EXAMPLE:

• 43 year old female with left L5 radiculopathy
• Left lower extremity pain > back pain
• Underwent left L5 TFESI
• Failed medication
• Medrol dose pack, NSAIDs
• Failed physical therapy
• Developing dynamic foot drop

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Procedure

• Traditional open microdiscectomy
• Midline incision
• Minimally invasive microdiscectomy
• 1.5 cm lateral midline
• Muscle splitting technique
• Goals
• Minimal removal of bone to gain entry into the spinal canal
• Subtotal versus limited discectomy

http://www.davisandderosa.com/Injuries-Conditions/Lower-Back/Lower- Back-Surgery/Lumbar-Discectomy/a~410/article.html http://www.siddiqimd.com/technology/technology-in-treatment.htm

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Procedure

• Traditional open microdiscectomy
• Direct visualization
• Minimally invasive microdiscectomy
• Range from use of tubular retractors
• To endoscopic technique

http://www.uwhealth.org/healthfacts/B_EXTRANET_HEALTH_INFO RMATION-FlexMember-Show_Public_HFFY_1105110033945.html http://www.jedpwebermd.com/procedures.html

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Outcomes: Open versus MIS

• Similar regardless of approach:
• Lau et. al. 2011 – no difference in open versus MIS
• operative time, length of stay, neurological outcome,

complication rate, or change in pain score (pain improvement).

• Harrington et. al. 2008 – no difference in open versus MIS
• Surgical times, blood loss, complications, and outcome
• Pain medication and hospital stay less in MIS group
• German et. al. 2008 – similar perioperative results
• Smith et. al. 2010 – comparable results with

microendoscopic discectomy and open discectomy

• pain, disability, and functional health

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Outcomes

• Successful procedure
• Profound improvement of pain when awaken
• Followed by strength and paresthesias
• SPORTs trial
• 2 year follow up: Patient improvement
• Physical function
• Satisfaction
• 4 year follow up: No statistical difference between

improvement in nonoperative and operative group

• Maintenance of improvement in operative group
• "Surgery Vs Non-Operative Treatment for Lumbar Disk Herniation: The Spine Patient Outcomes

Research Trial: A Randomized Trial" JAMA 296(20):2441-2450, 2006.

• "Surgery Vs Non-Operative Treatment for Lumbar Disk Herniation: The Spine Patient Outcomes

Research Trial Observational Cohort" JAMA 296(20):2451-2459, 2006.

• "Surgery Vs Non-Operative Treatment for Lumbar Disk Herniation: Four-Year Results from the Spine

Patient Outcomes Research Trial (SPORT)" Spine 33(25):2789-2800, 2008.

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Outcomes: Patient factors

• Psycological factors influence patient perception of successful
• utcomes
• ODI or Oswestry Disability Index
• SF-36 or Short Form-36
• Smokers:
• Vogt, et. al. – Smokers have baseline significantly lower function
• n SF-36.
• 1 year postoperative: no significant improvement in SF-36 scores

compared to nonsmoker counterparts

• Education level and self reported health:
• Independent predictor of poor self-reported function at baseline
• ODI and SF-36
• Other studies have implicated:
• Depression, unemployment, legal status
• Obesity:
• Negative influence on SF-36 and ODI scores
• Greater pain than nonobese patients

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Complications

• Risk of reherniation: occurs in 5-15% of patients
• Surgical intervention not necessary required
• Surgical approach no different
• Infection
• Dural tear
• Long term outcomes the same as no dural tear

http://www.dartmouth.edu/sport-trial/whatissport.htm#WhatResults

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Laser spine surgery

• Misnomer
• Incision 1” to 2”
• Laser to ablate tissue
• Studies
• Review of the literature 2013 by Singh et. al.

found little RCTs (1966 to 2012)

• Limited evidence for percutaneous laser disc

decompression

• Usually used for broad based discs to shrink the

disc

http://health.howstuffworks.com/medicine/modern-treatments/laser-spine-surgery.htm http://www.laserspineinstitute.com/about/lsi_history/

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Most commonly thought of…

• Use the word MISS with use of endoscope
• Laser or thermal ablation is used to denervate the

sensory nerves

http://www.laserspineinstitute.com/about/lsi_history

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Discussion and Questions