Benefits of Thoracic Deuk Laser Disc Repair®

Best Treatment for the Following Diagnoses

1. Disc Injuries:  
   1. Bulging Disc, disc bulge 
   2. Herniated disc, disc herniation  
   3. Slipped disc 
   4. Ruptured disc 
   5. Protruding disc, disc protrusion 
   6. Extruded disc, disc extrusion 
   7. Annular tear 
   8. Degenerated disc, disc degeneration 
   9. Degenerative disc disease 
   10. Spondylosis
2. Spinal stenosis, foraminal stenosis, foraminal narrowing 
3. Thoracic Radiculopathy 
4. Pinched nerves 
5. Thoracic Discogenic pain (Dorsalgia) 

Most Effective Treatment for Back Pain

Chronic back pain has a few causes of which disc injuries are the most common. Deuk Laser Disc Repair® is the most effective treatment in the world for the most common cause of chronic back pain: painful, inflamed annular tears within an injured disc’s back wall. Chronic means back pain lasting or recurring for more than 6 weeks. It is known that 85% of all chronic back pain comes from inflammation within the tears found in the back walls of injured spinal discs. The key role that inflammation plays in discogenic back pain was discovered endoscopically by founding neurosurgeon Dr. Ara Deukmedjian MD in 2007 and remains the basis of the Deuk Laser Disc Repair® treatment. Painful annular tears are found within herniated, slipped, ruptured, bulging, protruding, extruded and degenerated discs in the spine. The Deuk Laser Disc Repair® procedure directly targets and debrides painful annular tears with laser energy and precision. Discogenic back pain is eliminated completely and immediately with the treatment. To see if you are a candidate for Deuk Laser Disc Repair® please complete our Free MRI Review

Permanent Relief

Chronic thoracic pain can be cured when the exact source of pain is identified and properly treated. Fifty distinct sources of chronic thoracic spine pain are now known. Most patients with chronic thoracic pain have more than one source. The actual source of a patient’s pain is referred to as the "pain generator". The most common “pain generator” for chronic thoracic pain is injured discs in the thoracic spine. Injured discs such as disc herniation, disc bulge, slipped disc, disc protrusion, disc extrusion, disc degeneration, and spondylosis account for 85% of all chronic thoracic pain. Disc injuries are by far the most common cause of thoracic pain. Damaged facet joints such as facet arthropathy and hypertrophy are the second most common cause of chronic thoracic pain accounting for 10% in total. Finally, less than 5% of chronic thoracic pain is due to less common pain generators including vertebral fracture, tumor and infection. Correct diagnosis of a patient’s specific pain generators requires a specialized physical exam and a recent thoracic MRI scan. Occasionally, diagnostic nerve blocks are needed to aid in the diagnosis of facet joint pain. Bone scans can be helpful in determining if there is a painful fracture. Although many people suffer with chronic thoracic pain, each patient is unique in how they experience pain.

 Deuk Spine Institute is the first medical facility in the world to achieve 99% diagnostic accuracy identifying thoracic pain generators through its use of advanced medical imaging combined with a proprietary physical exam technique developed at Deuk Spine Institute called the Deuk Spine Exam®. The Deuk Spine Exam® uses novel thoracic pain mapping technology to identify thoracic pain generators with real time diagnostic accuracy over 99%. Unfortunately, most doctors worldwide still believe thoracic pain to be “nonspecific” having no identifiable source, thus leaving patients with no hope for a successful treatment recommendation. Subsequently, many thoracic pain treatments are done without an accurate diagnosis therefore the treatments are ineffective or short lived. Deuk Spine Institute’s lead researcher, Arias Deukmedjian and founder Dr. Ara Deukmedjian MD were the first to discover that most (85%) chronic thoracic pain originates from a microscopic tear in the posterior annulus fibrosus (wall) of the disc. While unable to heal on its own, the annular tear can be seen and repaired during endoscopic spine surgery. The endoscopic surgery has been peer reviewed and published as the Deuk Laser Disc Repair®.

 Deuk Laser Disc Repair® is the first fully FDA compliant spine surgery in the world to specifically target the most common cause of chronic thoracic spine pain, an inflamed posterior annular tear within an injured thoracic spinal disc. The Deuk Laser Disc Repair® procedure uses precisely targeted laser energy to remove inflammatory tissue, degenerated herniated nucleus pulposus, scar tissue, calcium deposits and bone spurs from within the painful posterior annular tear. With one 30-minute laser treatment, the painful disc becomes permanently painless as natural healing of the disc begins. Pain relief is typically immediate and lasts a lifetime. To see if you are a candidate for Deuk Laser Disc Repair® please complete our Free MRI Review

Motion Preserving

Spinal discs are normally painless joints made for movement, giving the thoracic its flexibility needed for regular daily activities. The ideal treatment for a painful disc would successfully eliminate thoracic pain while preserving the natural movement of the disc. Invasive spine surgeries such as laminectomy, discectomy, spinal fusion, microdiscectomy, interspinous devices and the artificial discs permanently interfere with the natural movement of the spine because these treatments intentionally remove or destroy the normal bones, ligaments, muscles, and joints from the spine. Collateral damage to the patient’s body caused by invasive spine surgery is often ignored by the surgeons who are pushing these dangerous but profitable types of surgery onto unsuspecting patients. Invasive spine surgery damages not only the spinal disc and surrounding ligaments, bones and muscles also permanently altering the patient’s natural posture, gait, station, and balance leading to a lifetime of agonizing joint and muscle issues from postsurgical spinal instability. Fusion of the spine becomes necessary to treat this postoperative instability after the invasive surgery. Spinal fusion itself always results in permanent loss of movement. The best way to avoid spinal fusion is to avoid invasive spine surgery in the first place.

Deuk Laser Disc Repair® is different because there is no collateral damage or instability from the procedure. Deuk Laser Disc Repair® uses a small ¼ inch skin incision and natural openings already present in the spine to access and treat painful injured discs. Unlike invasive spine surgery, Deuk Laser Disc Repair® is a minimally invasive, nontraumatic endoscopic procedure that gently separates delicate tissue around the spine without harm, bleeding or scarring. Since bone, muscle, ligament and joint are unharmed during the Deuk Laser Disc Repair® procedure, natural movement and stability of the spine are maintained. The entire surgery is completed endoscopically under twilight anesthesia with same day discharge. Because the injured disc is repaired with laser precision, spinal motion is preserved at the treated disc and all surrounding joints. To see if you are a candidate for Deuk Laser Disc Repair® please complete our Free MRI Review

Repair Injured Discs

All painful disc injuries begin with a traumatic tear of the annulus fibrosus ring around the disc. An annular tear occurs when the traumatic forces on a disc exceed the disc’s elastic property limits and cause an instantaneous structural failure of both the annulus fibrosus (tear) and adjacent nucleus pulposus (fragmentation) as postulated in 2008 by Deuk Spine Institute’s founding neurosurgeon, Dr. Ara Deukmedjian MD. At the precise moment of structural failure, linear annular tears occur in the wall of the disc while the adjacent nucleus pulposus is crushed into multiple fragments. Although not all annular tears immediately result in a disc herniation, the tear is a weakened area of the disc wall prone to herniations of the adjacent fragmented nucleus pulposus while under pressure from normal spinal loading. Pressure within the injured disc forces fragments of the damaged nucleus pulposus outward into the adjacent annular tear.

Disc herniations occur when fragments of damaged nucleus pulposus push out through the annular tear during normal physical activities such as bending, lifting, twisting, sports, and work. The annulus wall is 1.5 cm thick so the annular tear is long and fragments of herniated disc get stuck within the tear. Once a fragment of nucleus pulposus enters into the annular tear, the annular tear can no longer heal itself closed and inflammation begins to occur within the wall of the annular tear around the herniation. Inflammation is the body’s natural response to the herniation and its attempt to break down the herniation with chemicals released by inflammatory cells. Those chemicals not only cause severe pain by irritating nearby somatic afferent nerve endings but also weaken the wall further making it more susceptible to additional tears. Over time more fragments of the damaged nucleus pulposus push out through the annular tears and the herniation gets bigger.

 Discogenic thoracic pain may occur once the herniated fragments of nucleus pulposus reach the outer 1/3 of the posterior annulus fibrosus. The inner 2/3 of the annulus fibrosus normally has no blood vessels, no blood supply and no innervation. Nucleus pulposus fragments present within the outer 1/3 of the annular tear will trigger the body’s inflammatory defense system to turn “on” and begin to attack the pieces of herniated nucleus pulposus. The resulting inflammation within the walls of the posterior annular tear of an injured disc is the source of discogenic thoracic pain (pain generator). When the inflammation spreads to nearby nerve roots it causes radiating rib pain (radiculitis). Inflammation lasting weeks or months within the annular tear further weakens the wall and makes the disc more susceptible to reherniation. If left untreated, the annular tear remains open and vulnerable to additional herniation, inflammation and pain occurring in cycles over a lifetime.

 Deuk Laser Disc Repair® was the first and currently is the only procedure in the world to selectively target and repair the inflamed posterior annular tears known to cause chronic thoracic pain. Using a minimally invasive, endoscopic technique through a 4 mm skin incision, the painful annular tear is located at the back of the injured painful disc. Treatment of the painful tissue within the annular tear is performed using an FDA approved Holmium YAG laser under the direction of a highly trained Deuk Spine Institute surgeon. The surgeon will precisely remove herniated disc, inflammatory tissue, bone spurs, calcium deposits and scar tissue from the posterior annular tear and epidural space around the nerve root. Upon completion of the Deuk Laser Disc Repair® procedure, the now painless annular tear will begin healing naturally. It takes 9-12 months for the repaired annular tear to completely heal. At Deuk Spine Institute we say “save your discs”. By repairing your injured disc, you can avoid the destructive effects of laminectomy, discectomy, spinal fusion or disc replacement. To see if you are a candidate for Deuk Laser Disc Repair® please complete our Free MRI Review

Spinal Stenosis

Spinal stenosis is a common finding on MRI scans done for thoracic pain or pinched nerves. Spinal stenosis is an abnormal narrowing of the natural channels or holes in the spine. Often nerves run through these channels or holes. If the narrowing is severe enough a “pinched nerve” will occur. Pinched nerves can cause chest wall weakness, numbness, tingling or shooting pain around the ribs (radiculitis). Spinal stenosis or pinched nerves do NOT cause thoracic pain, only radiating pain can occur. Thoracic spine pain usually comes from disc injuries, for example herniated discs, bulging discs and degenerated discs. The most frequent cause of spinal stenosis is a herniated or bulging disc. This is why thoracic pain and spinal stenosis are commonly found together. Both can be effectively treated with Deuk Laser Disc Repair®. 

There are 4 zones in the spine where stenosis can occur. They are from medial to lateral: central, lateral recess, neural foramen and extra-foraminal. The most common zone for symptomatic stenosis is the lateral recess. The next most common zone for symptomatic stenosis is the neural-foramen. Deuk Spine Institute independently discovered that 98% of problematic spinal stenosis occurs in the lateral recess and neuro-foramen, a fact most doctors are unaware of. Spine surgeons and radiologists are typically only looking for central stenosis and often miss the actual cause of a patient’s stenosis symptoms, lateral recess and foraminal stenosis. Failure to diagnose and treat the actual source of a pinched nerve is the most common cause of “failed thoracic surgery syndrome” where patients have spine surgery that doesn’t work and they are in more pain after surgery. As a result of doctors missing the diagnosis, patients often suffer in pain. Deuk Spine Institute is your trusted partner with a 99% diagnostic accuracy for spine conditions. 

Spinal stenosis and its associated symptoms are completely curable with the safe and effective treatments available at Deuk Spine Institute. Since the most common cause of spinal stenosis is a bulging disc in the lateral recess or neuroforamen, Deuk Laser Disc Repair® is the preferred treatment for pinched nerves. After the Deuk Laser Disc Repair® procedure, rib symptoms such as pain, weakness, “heaviness”, numbness and tingling usually go away permanently. Rib pain often resolves first within 1-2 days of treatment while numbness and weakness may take up to 12 months after surgery. Deuk Spine Institute is able to perform all known treatments for spinal stenosis however we have found the best treatment for spinal stenosis to be the Deuk Laser Disc Repair® procedure. You can compare Deuk Laser Disc Repair® to other treatments for spinal stenosis including laminectomy, discectomy, interspinous device and fusion to see why our proprietary procedure is safer and more effective. To see if you are a candidate for Deuk Laser Disc Repair® please complete our Free MRI Review

Avoid Opioid Narcotic Painkillers

Spine surgery without post operative opioid narcotic painkillers is possible with the Deuk Laser Disc Repair®. Invasive spine surgery such as laminectomy, discectomy, interspinous devices, spinal fusion and disc replacement always require dangerous post operative opioid narcotic painkillers because these types of surgery cause tremendous damage to your body internally during the surgery. The internal damage cannot be seen under the incision but it is felt by patients as post-surgical pain for months. Most invasive spine surgery patients stay in the hospital overnight taking powerful opioid narcotic painkillers and continue taking them for months after surgery for the pain they experience. What invasive spine surgeons don’t tell patients is just how damaging their surgery is to the body and it is all hidden from sight under those scars. The actual source of post-operative pain is dying muscles, bones and ligaments ripped off of your spine while you are sleeping under anesthesia. The invasive surgery destroys muscles along the front of the spine by ripping them off the spine which causes them to “melt” away for months after the surgery turning them into a stew and eventually hard scar tissue. Don’t be fooled into believing this won’t happen to you. Liquification of muscles, tendons, bone and ligaments happens in ALL invasive spine surgery which is why you will have so much pain after invasive surgery and require opioid narcotic painkillers for weeks or longer. All patients undergoing invasive spine surgery are at high risk of becoming dependent on painkillers. 

Deuk Laser Disc Repair® is truly minimally invasive spine surgery and causes no known internal damage. Patients have no surgical pain the day after their surgery and no post operative painkillers are needed. Since post operative opioid narcotic painkillers are not needed by patients undergoing the Deuk Laser Disc Repair®, patients don’t have to worry about becoming addicted to painkillers. Patients can return to work or driving a car the day after their surgery. Most of our patients take one Tylenol the night after surgery and nothing else. With the rise in opioid abuse and deaths associated with opioid painkiller use, spine surgery without opioids is now possible and makes sense. To see if you are a candidate for Deuk Laser Disc Repair® please complete our Free MRI Review

Restore Spinal Stability

Spinal instability was originally defined in 1978 by Dr. White MD and Dr. Panjabi PhD as the inability of the spine under normal physiological loads to prevent deformation causing thoracic pain or neurological compromise. Spinal disc injuries including herniated and bulging discs are the most common cause of spinal instability. Procedures that eliminate thoracic pain or nerve root symptoms by definition enhance spinal stability. Many procedures have the capacity to improve symptoms of spinal instability, but few provide lasting results. Some of the procedures are highly invasive causing more injury to the patient’s body than just the spine. Invasive spine surgery includes laminectomy, discectomy, spinal fusion, disc replacement, interspinous devices and spinal cord stimulators. Invasive spine surgery always permanently damages soft tissues, bone and joints around the spine leading to long term instability and the need for additional spine surgery. 

The Deuk Laser Disc Repair® is the only procedure capable of stabilizing the spine without causing collateral damage to spinal muscles, joints, ligaments and tendons. A small ¼ inch incision is made in the skin and the rest of the surgery is performed endoscopically without internal damage or scar tissue. Pain relief is immediate and most patients experience neurological improvement within 24 hours. Deuk Laser Disc Repair® is capable of restoring spinal stability. To see if you are a candidate for Deuk Laser Disc Repair® please complete our Free MRI Review

Bloodless Spine Surgery

Unlike invasive spine surgery, Deuk Laser Disc Repair® does not cut or tear soft tissues and blood vessels. The average blood loss for a Deuk Laser Disc Repair® is 1.5 milliliters or about 30 drops. The average blood loss for invasive spine surgery is 100 times more than with Deuk Laser Disc Repair®. While blood transfusions are uncommon in minimally invasive spine surgery, excessive blood loss is not uncommon with invasive spine surgery such as laminectomy, discectomy, spinal fusion, disc replacement and spinal devices. Blood loss over 1,500 milliliters has been reported with invasive spine surgery leading to cardiovascular collapse and death. Peace of mind before surgery is important and no spine surgery affords greater safety and reliability than Deuk Laser Disc Repair®. Treat yourself to the best spine surgery available. To see if you are a candidate for Deuk Laser Disc Repair® please complete our Free MRI Review

Outpatient

Outpatient surgery is performed outside the hospital with the patient returning home the same day. Most spine surgery is invasive and high risk so surgeons must keep the patient in the hospital for days or weeks and on powerful painkillers to properly treat the after effects of surgery. Hospitals can be dangerous places, teeming with hostile bacteria. After all, sick patients with bad infections are admitted to the hospital for medical care. Why put yourself in that environment? 

Deuk Laser Disc Repair® and all Deuk Spine Institute’s minimally invasive procedures are performed in the safety of our state-of-the-art spine facilities, free of infection. Patients are always discharged home the same day as their procedure with minimal discomfort and a band aid size incision. Our patients can enjoy a walk on the beach or dinner in a fine restaurant nearby only hours after their surgery. Why would anyone choose a hospital stay when they can go home one hour after their spine surgery and enjoy their time in the way they chose best. To see if you are a candidate for Deuk Laser Disc Repair® please complete our Free MRI Review

Immediate Recovery

Most patients fully recover one hour after Deuk Laser Disc Repair® surgery. Some take a Tylenol or muscle relaxer the evening of surgery. 50% of our patients are completely pain free the evening of their surgery. By the morning after surgery, 90% of patients are pain free and off all pain medication. Only 10% of patients take a few weeks or longer to become pain free. Many patients chose to return to work the day after surgery while others take a week off. Driving, walking and other normal activities may be resumed the day after surgery. Lifting and bending restrictions are common but time limited. To see if you are a candidate for Deuk Laser Disc Repair® please complete our Free MRI Review

Safest Spine Surgery

Deuk Laser Disc Repair® has the safest spine surgery profile with documented fewer than 1 complication per 1,000 surgeries. Rigorous testing and years of development under the tightest safety controls has made the Deuk Laser Disc Repair® the safest spine surgery available anywhere in the world. Complication free spine surgery is now possible. With the highest quality control measures in place at all of our facilities, our surgeries have produced exceptional results with virtually no surgical complications to date. The minimally invasive nature of the procedure is another reason complications are so rare. 

Invasive spine surgery is known to have serious complications associated with bad outcomes. The invasive nature of laminectomy, discectomy, spinal fusion, disc replacement and spinal implants predispose patients to major serious complications including death from blood clots, infection, stroke, myocardial infarction (heart attack), pneumonia and shock multisystem organ failure. Less serious but more common complications of invasive spine surgery include implant misplacement, migration, loosening, breakage or failure, bone graft related osteonecrosis, heterotopic ossification, osteolysis and resorption; wound infection and non-healing, dural misadventures like spinal fluid lead, nerve root injuries and scarring, muscle damage, scarring and atrophy, residual stenosis or instability, blood vessel injury with pseudoaneurysm, dissection, obstruction leading to gangrene and amputation, bowel perforation, kidney injury; esophageal injury, perforation and dysphagia; hoarseness, recurrent laryngeal nerve injury, lymphatic injury, sympathetic trunk injury, Horner’s Syndrome, just to name a few of the common complications seen with invasive spine surgery but not with Deuk Laser Disc Repair®. 

We have a few sayings in the medical field when it comes to patient safety. “Our top 3 priorities are 1. safety, 2. safety and 3. safety”. Then there is, “First do no harm.” One of my favorites, “Only do what is necessary” and “Less is more”. Deuk Spine Institute firmly believes in patient safety as our top priority and it shows in how we have cared for our patients over the years offering only the finest spine care. We have spared no expense to provide our patients with the best modern medicine can offer in order to get the best outcomes possible for each person we care for. Our passion for giving our patients the best care shows in our exceptional surgical results, every day of the week. I hope you have the opportunity to find out for yourself just how much we care. Until then, may God bless you. To see if you are a candidate for Deuk Laser Disc Repair® please complete our Free MRI Review