Intervertebral discs lie between the adjacent spinal vertebral bodies. They are made of fibrocartilage with a central softer gelatinous portion called “nucleus pulposus”. The disc nucleus make it act as cushion between the two vertebrae. Disc degeneration may sometimes cause pain that is called “discogenic pain”.
Spinal discography: This is a minimally invasive spinal procedure intended to diagnose spinal discogenic pain.  A needle is inserted into the nucleus of the target disc, x-ray contrast injected inside, images are taken, and the patient’s response to increasing the pressure inside the disc is evaluated and recorded. Tears, cracks, herniation, and degeneration of the discs can be seen with more accuracy and the patient’s pressure response is obtained.
VIA Disc Procedure: This is a percutaneous minimally invasive disc procedure intended to relieve pain from disc degeneration. The procedure is done by injecting nucleus pulposus allograft to replace the disc material lost from disc degeneration.
Other percutaneous disc procedures for discogenic pain include:
Intradiscal Biacuplasty (IDB):  This is a minimally invasive percutaneous spinal procedure for pain resulting from disc degeneration. In this procedure, two electrodes are placed, one from each side, inside the target disc and radiofrequency waves flow between them. The generated heat, applied to the outer layer of the disc (annulus), ablates the tiny nerves that carry pain sensation from the disc.
Intradiscal Electrothermal Therapy procedure (IDET):  This is a minimally invasive percutaneous spinal procedure for pain from disc degeneration. Heat is applied to the outer layer of the disc (annulus) using  a special catheter placed inside the disc to thicken and strengthen the disc wall and to ablate the tiny nerves that carry pain sensation from the disc
All of the above procedures are minimally invasive, done percutaneously under local anesthesia with IV sedation if needed.