Crystal, I googled "hoogland abrasion" and was pleasantly surprised by the first result:
Dr. Hoogland's abrasion procedure. Restored disc height? - ISPINE.ORG Forum
I wrote this in 2006 and since then have gotten to spend several more days in the OR with Dr. Hoogland. There are several articles linked at the bottom of my post. I'd be happy to learn that I'm wrong, but as I understand it, the access to the disc for abrasion is endoscopic... the same as for his endoscopic discectomy. The idea of doing the abrasion on a disc that is not far enough down the degenerative cascade doesn't make much sense to me. I suppose it's possible, but I'll be surprised if its common. I don't know what the indications would be for abrasion that would not be considered a discectomy with abrasion. Remember that discectomies may not remove much disc material at all.
My wife had done in 2007. It was wildly successful for 3 months, then she started having leg pain on the other side and she had ADR a few months after that. I would not call this a failure of Hoogland's procedure. Diane's disc was far too severely compromised prior to the discectomy / abrasion. (Bertagnoli called this, but we did not listen to him and still started with the less invasive procedure.)
No surgery is always safe. Not every failure is attributable to surgical technique and/or improper diagnosis. We do less invasive surgeries hoping to salvage the discs and avoid more invasive surgeries. Most patients in the online communities who have had fusion or ADR and had prior, less invasive treatments would consider the earlier treatments a failure.
I wonder if I can dig up Diane's consent form for her 'abrasion' discectomy. I'll be surprised if it does not adequately disclose potential outcomes. I've gone through the consent process with clients for Hoogland, Zeegers and Bertagnoli. In each case, the surgeon walked us through the disclosure forms and discussed all possiblities. In some cases, we hear the parts that we want to hear and don't remember the rest.
Spine surgery sucks. Do your homework, make informed decisions.
Mark