This study attempted to characterize neural elements within the human cervical intervertebral disc. Cervical intervertebral discs were obtained from four adult human subjects at autopsy. Discs were stained in bulk with gold chloride, sectioned, and viewed with the light microscope. Nerve fibers appeared to enter the disc in the posterolateral direction and course both parallel and perpendicular...

Spinal fusion for degenerative disc disease has been associated with a variety of side effects, including increased morbidity, infection, failed back syndrome, pseudoarthrosis, and acceleration of degenerative changes in adjacent intervertebral discs and facet joints. Based on the experience of arthroplasty of hip and other joints, there has been an escalating in research emphasizing the design...

Discal cysts--intraspinal cysts communicating with an adjacent intervertebral disc--are an uncommon cause of lumbar radiculopathy. We report a case of discal cyst of the lumbar spine. The cyst contents were bloody and clotted rapidly; no disc materials were seen. Communication between the cyst and the intervertebral disc was detected. Histopathology of the cyst wall revealed fibrous connective ...

Introduction – aim The response of the intervertebral disc to asymmetric forces may accelerate degeneration through changes in the matrix. At a macroscopic level the disc sustains structural changes which may play a role in the progression of a scoliotic curve. At a molecular level, disc degeneration is the outcome of the action of matrix metalloproteases (MMPs), members of a family of enzymes ...

The vertebral column is a complicated anatomical structure which is composed of the intervertebral discs and the vertebrae. Both components develop special degenerative changes and morphologic features during life. This paper first reviews the anatomical fundamentals and then describes the morphological features of the aging intervertebral disc and the subsequent osseous changes of the vertebra...

Vacuum disc phenomenon is a collection of gas in the intervertebral disc space but rarely causes nerve compression. However, some rare type of vacuum phenomenon in the spinal canal may bring about posterior gas displacement within the epidural space. The authors describe two patients with symptomatic epidural gas-containing cyst that seem to be originating from vacuum phenomenon in the interver...

It is now about thirty years since Schmorl (1929) described structural changes in intervertebral discs and in intervertebral bodies observed at necropsy. Disc surgery during the last twenty-five years has shown that there is a high incidence of disc ruptures in patients with low back pain and sciatica, and there is a wide belief that low back pain originates in the discs. Although it can be wel...

BACKGROUND Recent reported results have added to the weight of evidence supporting association between disc degeneration and Modic changes. Endplate or Modic changes are also associated with increased body mass index. The most recent study from Teichtahl et al. titled 'Modic changes in the lumbar spine and their association with body composition, fat distribution and intervertebral disc height ...

STUDY DESIGN A kinematic analysis of cervical intervertebral disc deformation during simulated whiplash using the whole cervical spine with muscle force replication model was performed. OBJECTIVES To quantify anulus fibrosus fiber strain, disc shear strain, and axial disc deformation in the cervical spine during simulated whiplash. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA Clinical studies have documented...