Body Area: Back / Spine

Body Parts: Back

Symptoms: Pain

Description:
A "discography" or "discogram" in medical care refers to a lumbar provocative discography. This invasive diagnostic procedure is usually only used for people with severe, chronic low back pain that has an unidentified cause from previous testing. Needles are inserted through the back into the disc near the source of pain. Fluid is injected into the disc, and reactions of pain from the patient are recorded. This may be repeated on several discs. Then, a contrast agent is used and a CT scan taken to identify leakage from the disc(s) to identify any herniation.