Procedure & Treatment Library

Provocative Discography

What is a Provocative Discography?

Prior to the Procedure

Provocative
Image by BruceBlaus (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

What Will Happen?

  1. You will be admitted to the day surgery by a nurse and you will be asked to change into a gown.
  2. The anaesthetist will speak with you and place a cannula (plastic needle) into a vein in your hand.
  3. In the procedure room, you will be assisted to position on the procedure table on your abdomen with a pillow under your hips and abdomen.
  4. The anaesthetist will give you some sedation into your vein.
  5. An X-ray machine will be used to determine where the doctor will place the needles for your procedure. The procedure will take approximately 20 minutes to complete.
  6. Dye (Omnipaque) and antibiotic will be injected into the disc to determine if the disc is the source of your pain.
  7. You will be asked to report any pain or symptoms as this is done. Your feedback at this time is very important. Please be as specific as you can as to what you experience.
  8. After the discography you are generally escorted to Newcastle Radiology by a nurse for a CT scan. This will take approximately 1 hour.
  9. You will return to the day surgery centre following your scan and will be discharged from there with a carer shortly thereafter.

Post Procedure

If you require further explanation of the procedure, please contact Hunter Pain Specialists nursing staff on (02) 4985 1800.

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