Have you experienced lower back pain for years? If itâs because of a slipped disc, then open back surgery is no longer the only solution
Have you experienced lower back pain for years? If it's because of a slipped disc, then open back surgery is no longer the only solution.
Lower back pain is a common problem. Almost everyone has least one episode of lower back pain at some point in their life. The pain can vary from mild and short-term to severe and chronic.
For most people, the problem resolves itself within weeks, but in 30 percent of patients, back pain may be a sign of something more serious.
According to Bernard Lee of the Singapore Paincare Center, 60 percent of back pain is due to herniated nucleus pulposes (HNP), commonly known as slipped discs.
'The problem with the slipped disc is the compression on the nerve,' Lee, the center's director of interventional pain management, told The Jakarta Post.
When the nerve is pressed, patients would feel pain around their hips and even in their legs, said Lee.
'Usually [my patients] complain about the pain after walking for about 100 meters. They need to sit down [to ease the pain],' he said, adding that at first the pain would come and go, but
as a slipped disc became more severe, the pain would be more consistent.
'You feel pain in your hips, back area, legs and sometimes you feel tingling, too. If you leave it long enough, you'll injure your nerves, which will eventually lead to paralysis,' said Lee, who is also a anaesthesiologist consultant and medical acupuncturist.
Most men suffer slipped discs after carrying heavy things, while women are also vulnerable due to pregnancy.
For those above 50, the condition is mostly down to the ageing process, while most young people have the condition due to genetics.
There's two ways to fix the problem. The first, and common option, is via open back surgery.
The alternative is endoscopic laser treatment, which takes around two hours and is less invasive.
'You have to splash out at least S$30,000 for open back surgery, while endoscopic laser treatment costs about $15,000,' said Lee, who has been doing the treatment for about 2.5 years.
Lee, who claims to be a pioneer of endoscopic laser treatment in Southeast Asia, said the treatment used a tool called an endoscope, which was inserted into the patient's spine. 'We don't cut [the patient's body]. This is through epidural - epidural endoscopic.'
Once the scope is inserted, Lee examines the disc via a camera attached to the scope. The procedure allows the patient to be awake throughout.
'We make a little nick on the tailbone. We put the camera scope through the tailbone' the only natural opening in our body. It allows us to get into the spine without cutting,' he said.
'Through this natural opening, we can put the scope and we can look at the spine. We don't interrupt any bones or muscles. We keep everything natural, which is best,' explained Lee.
Once the scope is inserted and the surgeon can see the disc's condition, he can examine the damage and then burn the herniated disc with a laser.
The main aim of the procedure is to see the slipped disc and resolve the cause of the compression on the nerves.
'It's a one-day procedure. We do it in the morning, you can walk in the evening, and tomorrow you can be shopping,' said Lee.
On average, the procedure takes about two hours, but it depends on the size of the slipped disc ' the bigger the problem, the more time a surgeon requires.
'There's a limit to the procedure. The size of the disc can't be too big ' I cannot do it if the size of the slipped disc is beyond 50 percent. The limitation is because of the limited water to flush in [during the burning],' said Lee.
Lee claims the success rate of endoscopic laser treatment is 70 to 90 percent.
So is this procedure safe?
'In most reports, I'd say it's a good 90 percent safe. The other 10 percent concerns the heat from the laser. It doesn't [burn] the nerves, but its heat spreads [around the disc] so you can injure the surrounding nerves,' he explained.
'But even if your nerves are injured, it's not permanent ' it takes three to six months to recover. It's a side effect that we worry about the most,' revealed Lee, who added that his patients ranged from 18-96 years old.
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