Discectomy, a surgical procedure that involves the removal of part or all of an intervertebral disc, is often recommended for people with herniated discs that limit their mobility and cause chronic pain. Research has suggested that 90 percent of Americans will experience intervertebral disc degeneration during their lifetime, and though discectomies may relieve symptoms in some patients, they don’t prevent further disc degeneration and herniation. In a new study published on March 11 in Science Translational Medicine, the authors use a sheep model, which bears many similarities to the human lumbar spine, to test a tissue engineering procedure designed to restore and repair the spine after discectomy.
Eight sheep underwent partial discectomies in which their nucleus pulposus, the soft inner core of the intervertebral disc, was removed. They then received either a hyaluronic acid injection into the inner intervertebral disc, a collagen patch on the outer intervertebral disc, or both ...
