Oxygen-ozone therapy for degenerative spine disease in the elderly: a prospective study.

We describe our experience of oxygen-ozone therapy to treat degenerative spine disease in the elderly. From April 2004 to March 2008 we selected 129 patients with CT and/or MR evidence of spondyloarthrosis and disc degeneration of the lumbar spine. All patients enrolled in the study had contraindications to the administration of commonly used analgesic and anti-inflammatory drugs.Oxygen-ozone therapy was given by CT-guided intraforaminal injection as the first treatment followed by 4 weekly paralumbar infiltrations on an outpatient basis. The full treatment lasted a month. Clinical outcome was assessed 3 months and 1 year after treatment. The good results obtained indicate that oxygen-ozone therapy is an ideal treatment with no side-effects in elderly patients with degenerative spine disease.