Laser Disc Decompression

Most of us in the United States and Canada have all seen the endless commercials from Laser Spine Institute (LSI), where the family dog brings the lease to the man sitting in the chair. The man cannot respond to the dog's request for a walk because of back pain. Then we see the patient at one LSI marketing partners and it is only a twenty minute procedure with a zap, one stitch and a Bandaid and you are free of pain, possibly for life. Oh, and let's not forget the $30,000 minimal cash payment, insurance will not pay.

Consequently, patients come to us asking about Laser Disc Decompression. Well, Prof. Dr. Bertagnoli in the early 1990s was the first to practice this procedure in Europe and quickly abandoned it. Boiling and evaporating a disc sequestration has high reoperation rates and can cause serious collateral damage to other tissue. Consequently Prof. Dr. Bertagnoli abandoned this technique quickly, it widely abandoned everywhere until Laser Spine Institute started advertising.

Serious scientific doubts about LASER discectomy efficacy are raised in scientific articles such as the following Percutaneous-Laser-Disc-Decompression, Further concerns are expressed here about Discectomy Syndrome.