Treatments performed percutaneously or through small incisions, rather than by more aggressive surgical techniques, reduce a patient’s exposure to surgical risks and inconveniences such as pain, infection, blood loss, and long recovery times.

• Intradiscal Electrothermal Therapy (IDET*) is a minimally invasive therapy that relieves pain by using heat. For further information about the procedure, see About the IDET Procedure.
• Disc nucleoplasty (also called disc decompression) is a percutaneous procedure that uses radiofrequency energy to treat lower back pain resulting from mildly herniated or contained discs. In this procedure, a wand-like instrument is inserted into the disc nucleus to remove inner disc material. This removal of tissue relieves internal disc pressure and reduces pressure applied by the disc to nearby nerve endings.

When non-operative and minimally invasive treatments fail to relieve chronic discogenic lower back pain, the patient is left with two choices: learning to live with the discomfort and disability of lower back pain or perhaps undergoing invasive surgery.