Procedural Overview

Discography procedure is related to the pain arising from the discs in our back and is invasive in nature – it is also known as discogram. Through this procedure, our physician will diagnose precisely which disc is causing the pain. The diagnostic dye is injected into the disc and is used as a trigger point for reproducing the pain. In context to a patient’s ailment, this method of diagnosis helps to determine the treatment approach that should be taken for the pain like minutely invasive spine surgeries or interventional therapies. For people whose health has not benefited from conservative pain care management, this method can be utilized.

 

Generally during this process, the patient lies on their abdomen or the sides. Fluoroscopic imaging technique is used by the Dunes Pain physician to precisely arrange the needle at the correct location and the spot is marked. The physician will give mild local anesthesia on the area of needle injection so as to not cause discomfort when needles are inserted into the disc. During this entire procedure, your feedback for the pain experienced when the dye is injected is taken. If there is relatively more pain then that disc has a possibility of being worn-out. The discs can even be pressurized so that the dye does not flow out – if it does then the disc is abnormal. While performing this procedure, pictures of the discs will be captured by the fluoroscopic x-ray unit.

 

After the diagnosis is complete the needles are pulled out and the patient is taken to the recovery room.

 

After Care

This process normally takes less than an hour to perform, depending upon the discs that are affected. A physician will keep you under observation for an hour or less checking all your vitals. The soreness or swelling from the procedure is a common phenomenon and can be tackled by using ice packs. The physician may recommend using over-the-counter pain relievers like ibuprofen to decrease pain. There are risks involved with this procedure as it is an invasive one but usually, nothing serious is observed.