Minimally Invasive Lumbar Decompression Alleviates Pain From Lumbar Spinal Stenosis

MONDAY, Dec. 9, 2024 (HealthDay News) — The minimally invasive lumbar decompression (mild^®) procedure provides pain relief and improved physical function for at least a year in patients suffering from lumbar spinal stenosis, according to a study presented at the 23rd Annual Pain Medicine Meeting, a meeting of the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, held from Nov. 21 to 23 in Las Vegas.

Aaran Varatharajan, M.D., from University of Florida in Gainesville, and colleagues investigated the effects of the mild procedure on pain and functional status at up to 12 months of follow-up. The analysis included retrospective data from 136 patients (aged 16 to 89 years) who underwent the mild procedure from May 2018 to January 2023.

The researchers found statistically significant improvements across follow-up in Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) Average Pain and in VAS Maximum Pain. For both the Average and Maximum scores, the greatest improvement from baseline was seen at one month. At one month, there were also clinically significant improvements with approximately a 30-mm decrease in VAS. At 12 months, improvements in VAS scores were attenuated but remained statistically significant. Functional improvements persisted over time, with >65 percent of patients reporting functional improvements at each follow-up.

“This study demonstrates a significant reduction in both average and maximum pain scores alongside reported significant functional improvements by a majority of our patients, underscoring the effectiveness of this minimally invasive technique (mild^®) over a follow-up period of 12 months,” the authors write.

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