Open limited discectomy for lumbar disc prolapse; short term clinical outcome

Abstract

Prolapsed intervertebrallumbar discshappens in about 5-10% of patients presented with backache and contributes to considerable morbidity withsignificant economic and functional loss. It may occur at any age, but is uncommon in the very young and very old. After failure of conservative treatment trial, the mainstay treatment of lumbar disc prolapse is discectomy which can be done by different methods. The aim of study is to evaluate the short term clinical outcomesof open limited discectomy for lumber disc prolapse. This is a prospective cohort study included 42 patients who are suffering from back pain and or leg pain due to lumbar disc prolapse treated surgically by the samesurgical team at Al-Diwaniyah Teaching Hospital from October 2016 to October 2018.Clinical assessment was done for them using preoperative and postoperative Japanese Orthopaedic Association Score (JOAS). Additionally MacNab criteria were used to determine the functional improvement for all patients wereopen limited discectomy for theme was done at the time of their final follow up. All patients were satisfied with their treatment. The mean±SD for their pre-operativeJOAS was 9.02±1.38which improved to 23.19±1.19 after the operation,these improvements were statistically significant (P<0.001). Twenty-nine patients (69.05%) showed excellent result and 13 patients (30.95%)showed good result. Furtunatly,no complications were encountered. Open limited lumbar discectomy is an effective procedure with less complications and early return to work and this procedure can performed with no need for expensive instruments.