Discography -

Discograms are ordered to determine if a patient is a candidate for spine surgery or other intradiscal treatment.  The spine surgeons want to do a very thorough evaluation of spine whether it is cervical, thoracic, or lumbar.  In this way, the surgeon can obtain information that is not otherwise available from other studies including CT, or CT/Myelogram.  The results of the discogram will help the surgeon determine if you are a surgical candidate and if so, the location from which your pain is originating.  In this way, a surgeon can offer you a more specific operation or perhaps none at all depending on the results.  Therefore, a discogram is strictly diagnostic and is not a treatment.

We perform discography in the hospital so that we can administer IV antibiotics as well as intradiscal antibiotics at the time of the procedure.  The main risk of the discogram is a discitis, which is an infection in the disc. We have been able to avoid these completely by performing the discograms in the hospital setting with a surgical field and all precautions. It is not the difficulty of the procedure that requires that it be done in the hospital as these are performed in offices elsewhere.

Many patients have heard about how painful discograms are.  While it is true that we are looking for your pain, the majority of the procedure is very gentle and it is only at the very end that we try to find your pain.  As soon as we complete the procedure, pain medication is given through the IV.  At the conclusion of the procedure, the vast majority of the patients are surprised at how easy the procedure was for them.  If a surgeon refers you, I will dictate a detailed report to him, and you will leave the hospital with the films that your surgeon needs to review.

Please take all of your medication the morning of the procedure with as much water as you need.  However, remember to let us know if you are on blood thinners in case you forgot to stop taking them.

Hopefully this will answer your questions.  If it does not, please call with any additional questions you may have regarding your discogram.  Remember you may have some discomfort following the procedure, but there are no specific limitations in activity except for those that pertain to the sedation, which includes NO driving or operating dangerous equipment until the next day,