Effectiveness of combined pharmacological treatment in patients with lumbar discogenic pain in degenerative dystrophic diseases

Background. The purpose of the study is to determine the effectiveness of combined drug therapy in the treatment of lumbar discogenic pain. Materials and methods. A retrospective analysis was performed of treatment outcomes in 25 patients with an average age of 39.4 ± 8.3 years who were diagnosed with osteochondrosis of the lumbar spine, lumbago, lumbar discogenic pain and underwent a course of conservative treatment (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), muscle relaxants, and group B vitamins) and wore a corset. The study was conducted in the spine surgery clinic of the State Institution “Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedics of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine” from September 2023 to October 2024. The visual analog scale (cm), Oswestry Disability Index were used. Statistical processing of the results was carried out using Microsoft Excel and Statistica 8.0 (StatSoft Inc.). The results were evaluated after 1 and 6 months. Results. A mode-rate effectiveness of a combination of NSAIDs, muscle relaxants and group B vitamins in the treatment of lumbar discogenic pain in the short term has been established. Long-term results after 6 months showed that 6 (24 %) patients had an exacerbation of the pain syndrome, 14 (56 %) — no changes, and only 3 (12 %) patients achieved a positive effect of pain treatment. The study of the subjective assessment of well-being demonstrated that the improvement was observed throughout the observation period, but was relatively low: the Oswestry Disability Index immediately after treatment was 36.16 ± 6.08 (regression by 14.4 %), in 1 month — 35.60 ± 7.59 (regression by 14.9 %) and in 6 months — 38.56 ± 7.90 (regression by 12 %). Conclusions. The use of a course of combined pharmacological treatment with NSAIDs, muscle relaxants and group B vitamins is effective in the treatment of back pain only in the short-term (up to 1 month) perspective.