Purpose: Aim of this study is to assess the effectiveness of O2-O3 percutaneous chemiodiscolysis by evaluating volumetric changes in lumbar disc herniation on magnetic resonance imaging, in order to identify possible pre-treatment factors affecting such changes Methods: Between January 2014 and December 2017, a total of 87 patients with low back pain and 103 lumbar disc herniations with MRI confirmation were considered for O2-O3 chemiodiscolysis. The volume of each herniated disc was determined before and after the treatment.
Results: Multiple linear regression analysis showed a strong correlation between post-treatment LDH volume percent change and both pre-treatment LDH volume and pre-treatment EQ-VAS (p<0.05), while age showed only a weak positive correlation with post-treatment LDH volume percent change (p<0.1). No association was found for other factors, such as sex and herniation disc level.
Conclusions: In conclusion, age, baseline LDH volume and self-assessed disease severity score could represent three easy accessible outcome predictive parameters to consider when intradiscal O2-O3 chemiodiscolysis is envisaged. Better results after intradiscal O2-O3 chemiodiscolysis were obtained in older patients with higher pre-treatment LDH volume and low-moderate pre-treatment EQ-VAS.