Abstract
We studied 18 patients who had undergone surgery for herniated lumbar discs between the ages of 11 and 17 years. The inclusion criteria for girls was an age of 15 years or below and for boys 17 or below at surgery. The mean follow-up time was 10 years and the clinical outcome was good. Age at surgery and length of the follow-up had no effect on the result. The radiological disc height at follow-up did not correlate with the follow-up time or age of the patient at operation. MRI scans at follow-up from ten patients operated at less than 15 years of age revealed multilevel disc degeneration but favourable clinical results.
Key words: Disc herniation, Children, Operative treatment, Long-term results
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (271.6 KB).
References
- 1.Bradford D, Garcia A. Herniations of the lumbar intervertebral disk in children and adolescents. A review of 30 surgically treated cases. JAMA. 1969;210:2045–2051. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 2.DeOrio JK, Bianco AJ. Lumbar disc excision in children and adolescents. J Bone Joint Surg [Am] 1982;64:991–996. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 3.Epstein JA, Epstein NE, Marc J, Rosenthal AD, Lavine LS. Lumbar intervertebral disk herniation in teenage children: recognition and management of associated anomalies. Spine. 1984;9:427–432. doi: 10.1097/00007632-198405000-00019. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 4.Fairbank JCT, Couper J, Davies JB, O'Brien JB. The Oswestry low back pain disability questionnaire. Physiotherapy. 1980;66:271–273. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 5.Giroux J-C, Leclercq TA. Lumbar disc excision on the second decade. Spine. 1982;7:168–170. doi: 10.1097/00007632-198203000-00013. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 6.Korkala O, Poussa M, Merikanto J, Karaharju E. Juvenile lumbar disc herniation. Proceedings of the Orthopaedic Hospital of the Invalid Foundation. 1986;1:21–22. [Google Scholar]
- 7.Kurihara A, Kataoka O. Lumbar disc herniation in children and adolescents. A review of 70 operated cases and their minimum 5-year follow-up studies. Spine. 1980;5:443–451. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 8.Kurth AA, Rau S, Wang C, Schmitt E. Treatment of lumbar disc herniation in the second decade of life. Eur Spine J. 1996;5:220–224. doi: 10.1007/BF00301323. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 9.Nykvist F, Hurme M, Alaranta H, Kaitsaari M. Severe sciatica: a 13-year follow-up of 342 patients. Eur Spine J. 1995;4:335–338. doi: 10.1007/BF00300292. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 10.Rugtveit A. Juvenile lumbar disc herniations. Acta Orthop Scand. 1966;37:348–356. doi: 10.3109/17453676608989425. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 11.Russwurm H, Bjerkreim I, Ronglan E. Lumbar intervertebral disc herniation in the young. Acta Orthop Scand. 1978;49:158–163. doi: 10.3109/17453677809005744. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 12.Saraste H, Broström LA, Aparasi T. Radiographic assessment of anatomic deviations in lumbar spondylolysis. Acta Radiol. 1984;25:317–323. doi: 10.1177/028418518402500412. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 13.Savini R, Martucci E, Nardi S, Capelli A, Gusella A. The herniated lumbar intervertebral disc in children and adolescents. Long-term follow-up of 101 cases treated by surgery. Ital J Orthop Traumatol. 1991;17:505–511. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 14.Schlenzka D, Poussa M, Seitsalo S, Österman K. Intervertebral disc changes in adolescents with isthmic spondylolisthesis. J Spinal Disord. 1991;4:344–352. doi: 10.1097/00002517-199109000-00012. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 15.Silvers HR, Lewis PJ, Clabeaus DE, Asch HL. Lumbar disc excisions in patients under the age of 21 years. Spine. 1994;19:2387–2392. doi: 10.1097/00007632-199411000-00002. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 16.Wahren H. Herniated nucleus pulposus in a child of twelve years. Acta Orthop Scand. 1946;16:40–42. doi: 10.3109/17453674508988913. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 17.Weber H. Lumbar disc herniation. A controlled prospective study with ten years of observation. Spine. 1983;8:131–140. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]