Decrease in health care resource utilization with MILD.

OBJECTIVE

To compare health care resource utilization before and after minimally invasive lumbar decompression (MILD) procedure.

DESIGN

Case series.

SETTING

Veteran's Administration health care system.

SUBJECTS: All patients who underwent MILD at the author's institution.

METHODS

The charts of 22 patients who underwent MILD procedure were reviewed. The primary comparison was between the amount of time spent in specialty care and the number of interventional procedures performed before and after MILD. Each patient's current status and need for continued specialty care were secondary measures. Patient satisfaction with MILD, and pre- and post-VAS were recorded as well.

RESULTS

After MILD, there was close to 45% reduction in time spent in specialty care and an almost fourfold decrease in number of interventional pain procedures performed on patients with lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS). Over half the patients no longer required chronic pain management to treat their LSS symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS

Not only is MILD a reliable method to treat LSS, MILD also appears to reduce the consumption of limited health care resources.