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Have you ever heard of spinal stenosis similar to a back disc?

It's a painful condition where nerves get out of the way and your legs get numb and you can't even walk.

Korean researchers have succeeded in drilling the world's first narrow spinal canal with balloons.

This is a report by Park Kwang-sik, a medical reporter.

"Report

A thin tube that moves from side to side, and can be extended with balloons at the end.

This tube is inserted into the spine to open the narrow neural pathways, and then inflate the balloon to expand the space.

Interviewer Yoon: "The pain has been relieved a lot. My walking is much better than before. We've made a lot of progress."

A team of researchers at Asan Medical Center in Seoul performed the world's first balloon extension on spinal stenosis, which resulted in an average 28 percent increase in narrowed spinal holes and about half less pain.

If you walk a certain distance, you have to sit down and rest to walk again, but the distance you walk at once after the procedure has increased three times.

It is the principle that blood circulation improves by broadening the narrow spine hole to relieve neural tube pressure.

Shin Jin-woo (Professor of Anesthesia at Asan Medical Center): "One of the most popular procedures for patients with vascular stenosis, including the heart, is balloon therapy. That's where I got the idea. I think it's almost the first time I've made a balloon catheter for the treatment of spinal stenosis."

The target is patients with intractable spinal stenosis who are not effective with conventional injections or neurotreatment or feel pain after surgery.

This technology has recently been officially recognized as a new medical technology by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

I'm Park Kwang Sik of KBS News.