Our experience in Costa Rica on treatment of disc herniation [abstract]

PURPOSE: To inform on the characteristics, results and epidemiological data on the treatment of Disc Herniation in Costa Rica. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We evaluated the handling of 1240 patients, with Disc Herniation at Cervical 147 cases (11.85%), Thoracic 1 case (0.09%) and Lumbar 1092 cases (88.06%) levels. They were all treated with Oxygen-Ozone therapy, in an ambulatory form, with a protocol of treatment, initially consistent of three to four sessions of paravertebral intramuscular infiltration (O3: 20 mcgr/mL), followed by a session of “Discolysis” (O3: 38-40ug/mL) technique under sedation and fluoroscopy, followed by four to five complementary sessions of paravertebral intramuscular infiltration of 02-03, in a lapse from three to six weeks. RESULTS: In our casuistry we treated 669 men (54%) and 571women (46%) and deducted that there is an evident predominance in the incidence of lumbar disc hernias with 1092 cases, followed by the cervical disc hernias with 147cases, with a negligible incidence of Thoracic Hernias (1 case 0.09%). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The results achieved with the O2-O3 Therapy are highly satisfactory; especially with the cervical (84.2%), and we believe that it is due to a less incidence of associated pathologies and a higher conscience of the problem by the patients.