Minimally Invasive Lumbar Decompression Alleviates Pain From Lumbar Spinal Stenosis
By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, Dec. 9, 2024 -- 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.
Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.
© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Posted December 2024
Read this next
Cognitive Functional Therapy Effective for Chronic Low Back Pain at Three Years
WEDNESDAY, Aug. 6, 2025 -- Cognitive functional therapy (CFT), with or without biofeedback, is more effective than usual care for treating patients with chronic disabling low back...
Remote CBT-Based Therapy Yields Modest Improvements in Chronic Pain
MONDAY, July 28, 2025 -- Remote-scalable cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)-based chronic pain (CP) treatments yield modest improvements in high-impact chronic pain compared with...
Fewer Opioids Being Prescribed for Low Back Pain in the Emergency Department
FRIDAY, July 18, 2025 -- From 2016 to 2022, 5.3 percent of all U.S. emergency department visits were related to low back pain, with opioid administration and prescription...
More news resources
- FDA Medwatch Drug Alerts
- Daily MedNews
- News for Health Professionals
- New Drug Approvals
- New Drug Applications
- Drug Shortages
- Clinical Trial Results
- Generic Drug Approvals
Subscribe to our newsletter
Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.