Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28713631›Full record

ArticleSurgical neurology international2017

Percutaneous cervical laser diskectomy, thermoannuloplasty, and thermonucleoplasty; comparable results without surgery.

Nancy E Epstein

Open access · hybridAbstract readEditorial
In one paragraph

Article in Surgical neurology international, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
0.7field-weighted citation impact, top 27% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed, 6 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.

Nancy E EpsteinChief of Neurosurgical Spine/Education, NYU Winthrop Hospital, Mineola, New York, USA.
Winthrop-University Hospital · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundUtilizing the literature, the results of three different minimally invasive surgery (MIS) anterior cervical percutaneous operations for neck/mild radicular pain and magnetic resonance (MR)-documented "contained" (not extruded/sequestrated) discs were evaluated. Results were compared with patients treated nonsurgically for comparable/greater neurological compromise, and even more severe cervical disc disease.

methodsThere were three MIS percutaneous anterior cervical discectomy procedures. Anterior cervical laser discectomy ablated and vaporized disc tissue. The thermoannuloplasty used heat to contract collagen fibers to reduce disc volume. Thermonucleoplasty employed a low-temperature resister probe to promote disintegration and evacuation of small volumes of disc (e.g., some studies cited an average of just 0.09 mL of disc removed). These results were compared to those for the nonsurgical management of patients with comparable/greater neurological deficits, and more severe cervical disc herniations.

resultsThe three MIS anterior cervical operations resulted in 80-90%+ improvement using Macnab's criteria. However, although the literature demonstrated similar 80-90+% improvement without cervical surgery, the latter patients were more neurologically compromised.

conclusionsFor patients with pain alone/mild radiculopathy and "contained" discs on MR, three MIS percutaneous anterior cervical disc operations resulted in 80-90%+ improvement. Notably, similar 80-90%+ improvement was observed for comparable/more neurologically impaired patients with even larger cervical disc herniations treated nonsurgically. With such findings, where is the "value added" for these three MIS cervical operations?

Indexed as

Cervicalcervical nucleoplastylaser discectomyminimal indicationspercutaneousthermoannuloplasty

Identifiers

PMID28713631
PMCPMC5502292
OpenAlexW2631386531

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-SA
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.