A new procedure is available now in this country which had its origins in
Italy. It was developed by an Italian orthopedic surgeon by the name of Dr.
Cesar Verga. Dr. Verga has been using this out patient treatment for
herniated discs since 1984. The procedure is available throughout Europe and
is being taught at conferences throughout Europe.
Dr. Verga claims a success rate of over 95 percent with virtually zero
recovery time and no side effects. It seems to be too good to be true!. To
the thousands of patients treated, the answer is apparently that it worked.
The procedure can also be effective in conditions of back pain without disc
herniation.
Discosan apparently works because of many factors. The ozone/ozygen mixture
has specific actions on the protruding disc by acting on a molecular level
on the bonds holdiing the herniation together. With the bonds broken, the
disc herniation apparently resolves. The method also apparently brings about
a microvascularization(more blood supply) and oxygen to the area. This is
essential to healing. Dr. Verga claims more fibroblasts are brought into the
area of the disc herniation which helps heal the area. The treatment also
apparently reduces the swelling in the area which seems to contribute to the
compression pain and inflammation so frequently present.
The procedure involves the use of ozone and oxygen mixture applied around
the herniated disc area. At the beginning, the therapy requires two
treatments per week for a period of one to two months. On average, a total
of fourteen(14) treatments are required, depending upon the patient. There
is slight pain in the injection area for several minutes but usually less
than five(5) minutes.
Dr. Verga claims that traditional back surgery does not address the
underlying cause of the problem and actually offsets the biomechanical
aspects of the back problem. This is very much an osteopathic concept as
well as the opinion of Dr. Verga. The failure rate in traditional surgery is
too high. After a second back surgery, which is not atypical, you are
considered a back failure case and treated almost totally with drugs only.
Now, you are really abandoned by the medical system.
"In the United States, approximately two thirds of all patients enrolled in
chronic pain centers suffer from the failed back syndrome....it is
indisputable that a far greater number of lumbar disc operations per 100,000
population are performed in the United States than in European countries,
even though there is little or no evidence to suggest a major dissimilarity
in the frequency, severity, or type of low back disease encountered on the
two continents..... Thus, the conclusion the many American failed back
syndromes result from excessive surgical intervention seems difficult to
avoid" (The Failed Back Syndrome- Etiology and Therapy, Second Edition,
Harold W. Wilkinson, M.D. Ph.D. 1992 ,Page 4, Springer -Verlag quoted from
Mister W. Bar S: Rupture of the intervertebral disk with involvement of the
spinal canal. N. Engl J Med 1934:211:210-214)
Even carefully executed surgery is doomed to failure if it is performed for
an incorrect diagnosis...All that glitters is not gold and all that hurts is
not disc disease. Even if the diagnosis of lumbar disc disease is correctly
made, surgery may be improper if it is unnecessary. A significant percentage
of patients with lumbar disc disease, even those with sciatica and nerve
root compression, will respond quite adequately to nonoperative therapy(page
6).
Once the patient has been operated on many neurosurgeons decline to treat
what becomes designated as "a surgical disease," and many surgeons, who
recognize that further surgery is not likely to be productive, do not offer
nonsurgical treatment. Preface to second Edition, ,page vi."The Failed Back
Syndrome Etiology and Therapy, Second Edition, Harold A. Wilkinson supra.
"A discouraging amount of what we claim to be our knowledge of the
pathophysiology and appropriate therapy for the complex of disorders that
constitute the failed back syndrome remains unvalidated by careful
scientific study." Le Blanc FE(ed): Scientific approach to the assessment
and management of activity related spinal disorders. A Monograph for
clinicians. Spine 1987;12(7):S1-S59.
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