Mewat Shah, Muhammad Mukhtar Khan, Tariq Safi, Atif Aman, Ayaz Ahmad, Muhammad Ali Shah, Fayaz Ahmed.
Effectiveness of disc excision in the treatment of herniated lumbar intervertebral disc.
J Med Sci Jan ;23(3):153-7.

Objectives: To know the Effectiveness of disc excision in the treatment of herniated lumbar intervertebral disc. Material and Methods: This study was conducted at Neurosurgery Department of Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar. Duration of this study was from March 2014 to September 2014. The study design was descriptive case series in which consecutive non probability sampling technique was used. Results: A total of 62 patients were included with 60% males and 40% females. Mean age was 37 years ± 4.68 SD, 65% patients had L4-L5, 24% patients had L5-S1 and 11% patients had both L4–L5 and L5–S1 level disc herniation. Preoperatively 75% had severe pain, 25% patients had moderate pain. Two weeks postop no pain was found in 85% patients, 12% patients had mild pain while only two patients had moderate pain. No correlation was found between preop pain and postop pain relief. Conclusion: Limited disc excision either through laminectomy, hemilaminectomy or fenestration is a safe, effective and reliable surgical technique for treating properly selected patients of sciatica. Surgical discectomy provides immediate relief from radicular pain than conservative management. Recovery from sciatica make early surgery likely to be cost effective compared with prolonged conservative care.

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