Diagnosis and surgical treatment of back pain originating from endplate / 中华外科杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the methods of diagnosis and surgical treatment for patients with back pain originating from endplate.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>All patients received examinations of radiography, CT, and MR imaging. Pain level of disc was decided by discography in each patient. The principal outcome judgment were pain and disability, and the efficacy of surgical treatment was assessed by visual analog scale (VAS) for pain, and the Oswestry disability index (ODI) for functional recovery.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>All patients with a diagnosis of back pain originating from endplate according to discography were treated with anterior or posterior fusion surgery. The mean follow-up period was three years and five months (from 2 to 6 years). Among of the 21 patients, 20 (95%) reported a disappearance or marked alleviation of low back pain, and experienced a definite improvement in physical function. A statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement on the ODI and the VAS scores were obtained in the patients with chronic low back pain originating from endplate (P = 0.0001) after treatment.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The study suggests that the discography and fusion surgery may be very effective methods for the diagnosis and treatment of chronic back pain originating from endplate respectively.</p>