CHRONIC LOW BACK PAIN IN A PATIENT WITH MODIC1 OSTEOCHONDROSIS: TREATMENT WITH X-RAY-GUIDED OZONE IN THE INTERVERTEBRAL SPACE

Filippo Albertini^1† and Matteo Bonetti^2†

¹Department of Neuroradiology, S. Anna Clinical Institute, Brescia, Italy
²Department of Neuroradiology, Clinical Institute Città di Brescia, Brescia, Italy

†These authors contributed equally to this work.

*Correspondence to:

Dr. Filippo Albertini

Department of Neuroradiology, S. Anna Clinical Institute, Brescia, Italy

e-mail: docalbertini66@gmail.com

Received: 13 March 2020 Accepted: 26 April 2020Biolife-Publisher.it © 2020

ISSN: 2038-4106 This publication and/or article is for individual use only and may not be further reproduced without written permission from the copyright holder. Unauthorized reproduction may result in financial and other penalties. Disclosure: All authors report no conflicts of interest relevant to this article.

ABSTRACT

The definition of Low Back Pain (LBP) encompasses several vertebral pathologies. Vertebral bone marrow lesions recognizable as Modic modifications on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have high specificity for discogenic LBP. Furthermore, recent data indicate infectious and autoimmune etiologies in the genesis of Modic changes, both of which presuppose structural damage to the disc. In this study, we evaluate how much intradiscal/intervertebral oxygen-ozone can be a solution to this complex problem. We treated 69 patients that underwent intradiscal/intervertebral infiltration with an oxygen-ozone mixture at a concentration of 20 μg/ml under fluoroscopic guidance. The overall results were satisfactory, taking into account that a maximum of two oxygen-ozone administrations were made in 60 days. Furthermore, 70% of the patients evaluated two months after the last administration was satisfied with the treatment performed. In our opinion, the widely established and extremely safe technique justifies a more widespread use of ozone therapy and must stimulate additional applications which include more treatments with oxygen-ozone for each patient and systematic remote MRI control.

Keywords: oxygen, ozone, osteochondrosis, low back pain, Modic changes