Percutaneous laser disc ablation: a proactive approach to minimizing IVDD in dogs

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Gaemia Tracy, DVM, DACVIM, (Neurology), joins The Vet Blast Podcast to talk about intervertebral disc disease (IVDD) in canine patients. He explains percutaneous laser disc ablation and more.

Below is a partial transcript. Listen to the full podcast for more.

Gaemia Tracy, DVM, DACVIM, (Neurology): Yeah, so the procedure is called percutaneous laser disc ablation (PLDA) and what it is it's a purely preventative prophylactic procedure that's minimally invasive to prevent disc herniations... This procedure is minimally invasive [and] use a spinal needles to approach each disk space in the middle of the back, where these herniated discs tend to occur. And then, using fluoroscopy, I pass laser fibers through those spinal needles right into the middle of each disk space. And the goal is to deliver a laser impulse into each disk space that takes the degenerative disc that's now dried up and desiccated and breaks it up into much smaller pieces, takes it back towards a liquid state and decreases the pressure at each disk space.