How Effective is Ozone Therapy in Treatment of Lumbar Disc Disease: a Systematic Review of Prospective Studies.

OBJECTIVE: With numerous studies reporting on the clinical efficacy of ozone therapy, there has been a growing interest in its use for disc herniation in lumbar disc disease. The aim of this meta-analysis is to explore the results of the prospective studies using ozone for the treatment of lumbar disc disease. METHODS: Online electronic databases of PubMed, Embase and Scopus were searched using relevant keywords. This review included prospective studies on the treatment of lumbar disc herniation using ozone therapy. RESULTS: A mean improvement of 4.25 (95% CI 2.93-5.58) in visual analogue scale (VAS) scores was noted. A mean improvement of 20.57 (95% CI 18.47-22.68) in Oswestry disability index (ODI) was noted across the studies on meta-analysis. Meta-regression of the pre-operative and post-operative VAS score did not show any significant association with age at procedure, gender or the level of lumbar disc disease. None of the selected studies reported any minor or major complication. CONCLUSION: Ozone treatment in low back pain associated with herniated disc is an effective therapy and can be considered as a standard treatment in cases which failed for conservative treatment. Ozone therapy is a simple method and can be effectively delivered with minimal adverse effects. However, additional meta-analysis with high quality randomised controls can be done to further strengthen the evidence for this mode of treatment.