Is Intradiscal Ozone Injection Effective in Ameliorating Symptoms of Lumbosacral Discopathy?

Oxygen ozone gas mixture as a newly prescribed substance became popular among clinicians to relieve low back pain in discogenic patients as an alternative method rather than surgery. It is believed multiple metabolic pathways intervein within its site of action with nucleus pulposus. We developed this study to uncover whether this combination could be helpful in the middle Eastern population or not.

 In the present randomized clinical trial study, we included 40 patients with L1 to S1 disc herniation based on MRI verification within years 2018-2019 who did not respond to 6 weeks of physiotherapy. All patients were followed with a mean time of 12 weeks after injection, and pain VAS score and SF-36 score were performed for all patients. The severity of disc herniations was evaluated by a spine surgeon within the Michigan State University (MSU) classification frame.

Nine out of 40 patients were unexpectedly excluded during our study due to their absence for follow-up. The present study showed that the mean distribution of the patient’s sex, age, BMI, smoking was not contrasting between the two groups (p>0.05). The current study represented two groups were identical regarding Lumbosacral segment involvement during 12 weeks of our survey (p>0.05). SF-36 score graphical inclination was equivalent in both intervention and control groups. The mean VAS score was primarily decreased after two weeks in the intervention group in comparison with the control group, but it failed to thrive in the following weeks and was raised afterward. On the other hand mean VAS score for the control group (6.1; 95% CI: 5.4-6.8) proceeded with a steady slope notably lower than the intervention group (7.5; 95% CI: 6.9-8.2; P<0.001).

In conclusion, referring to statistical outcomes inferred from our study, we understood oxygen-ozone mixture injection is not beneficial in patients with low back pain.