BACKGROUND Lumbar disc removal is currently the standard treatment for lumbar disc herniation. No consensus has been achieved whether aggressive disc resection with curettage (discectomy) versus conservative removal of the offending disc fragment alone (sequestrectomy) provides better outcomes. This study aims to compare the reherniation rate and clinical outcomes between discectomy and sequest...

BACKGROUND The elderly population is growing in the United States. As the oldest old are projected to be the fastest growing part of the elderly population, we must consider how to best treat their degenerative spine conditions when non-operative treatment fails. OBJECTIVES Transforaminal endoscopic discectomy and foraminotomy is an ultra-minimally invasive outpatient surgical option that doe...

herpes zoster is a rare cause of non-discogenic sciatica. a combination of case rarity and name similarity was nearly leading to an inopportune surgery in a 21 years old woman. the clinical presentation was completely similar to a cauda equina syndrome associated with urinary incontinence and bilateral leg involvement. concurrently, lumbosacral imaging of another patient with exactly similar na...

in a retrospective study the clinical presentations, neurological findings, contrast studies, operative findings, and the follow-up results of 314 patients with disc herniation were studied over a 10-year period. this disease was most frequent between the ages of 30 to 40 and mostly in males. low back pain with or without radicular pain was the most frequent symptom, involving the left leg in t...

OBJECT Incidental durotomy is an infrequent but well-recognized complication during lumbar disc surgery. The effect of a durotomy on long-term outcomes is, however, controversial. The authors sought to examine whether the occurrence of durotomy during surgery impacts long-term clinical outcome. METHODS Spine Patient Outcomes Research Trial (SPORT) participants who had a confirmed diagnosis of...

BACKGROUND Patients with cervical radicular syndrome due to disc herniation refractory to conservative treatment are offered surgical treatment. Anterior cervical discectomy is the standard procedure, often in combination with interbody fusion. Accelerated adjacent disc degeneration is a known entity on the long term. Recently, cervical disc prostheses are developed to maintain motion and possi...

OBJECTIVE Postoperative facet joint syndrome requiring radiofrequency neurotomy (RFN) is a relatively common problem following microscopic discectomy. However, the efficacy of repeated RFN after microscopic discectomy has not been clearly documented. The purpose of this study was to determine the success rate and symptom-free duration of repeated RFN for facet joint syndrome after microscopic d...