The aim of lumbar disc herniation surgery is the removal of herniated disc material (HDM) and complete decompression of the nerve root. As some patients present with residual HDM, we examined the ability of intraoperative ultrasound (IOUS) to detect this material. Between February 2006 and June 2007, we used IOUS in 30 patients undergoing surgery for lumbar disc herniation. They were 17 men and...

Lumbar herniated discs commonly occur in patients 20-40 years of age, and result in acute symptoms of shooting and intractable pain in the low back and/or lower extremities. However, the prognosis of these patients is considered to be very good. Moreover, 70% of these patients have been reported to be free from sciatica at approximately 6 months after the first onset. Magnetic resonance imaging...

Hereditary multiple exostoses (HME) is a benign hereditary disorder characterized by multiple osteochondromas. Osteochondroma appears occasionally in the spinal column as a part of HME. A 37-year-old man presented with a history of HME and cervical compressive myelopathy caused by intraspinal osteochondroma arising from the lamina of the C5 and disc herniation at the C5-6. He was treated by ope...

Backache, with or without sciatica nerve or femoral involvement, affects 90% of the population at least once in their lives and is one of the major causes of working days lost in the western world . Until 15 years ago surgery was the treatment of choice. Nowadays the trend is to adopt conservative treatments given the many limitations of surgery in terms of short and long-term pain resolution ....

We carried out a study to determine the effect of facet tropism on the development of adolescent and adult herniation of the lumbar disc. We assessed 149 levels in 140 adolescents aged between 13 and 18 years and 119 levels in 111 adults aged between 40 and 49 years with herniation. The facet tropism of each patient was measured at the level of the herniated disc by CT. There was no significant...

BACKGROUND In spite of its high clinical relevance, the relationship between disc degeneration and low back pain is still not well understood. Recent studies have shown that genome-wide gene expression studies utilizing ontology searches provide an efficient and valuable methodology for identification of clinically relevant genes. Here we use this approach in analysis of pain-, nerve-, and neur...

A herniated intervertebral disc is the most common type of soft tissue mass lesion within the lumbar spinal canal. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a useful tool for the assessment of patients with lower back pain and radiating pain, especially intervertebral disc herniation. MRI findings of intervertebral disc herniation are typical. However, from time to time, despite an apparently classic...

There are very few reported cases of regression of large cervical disc herniation without any intervention-the so-called spontaneous regression, demonstrated using MRI. We report a rare and interesting case of MRI that demonstrated near complete regression of a large herniated cervical intervertebral disc, without any surgical treatment.

Key Points to Remember .............................................................19 PREVALENCE OF DISC ISSUES Back Pain is one of the most common complaints reported to physicians and a leading cause of disability. The tissues primarily responsible for generating spine pain include muscles, facet joints, sacroiliac joints, the intervertebral disc, and spinal nerve roots that are irritated mo...