Microsurgical Excision of Herniated Lumber Disc in Pediatric Population

Abstract

Lumbar disc herniation is a relatively rare disorder among children and adolescent population compared to adults. The objectives of this work are to study the lumbar disc herniation in pediatric population and determine the surgical outcome of lumbar microdiscectomy in such population. Patients and methods: A series of 32 pediatric patients less than 18 years operated by microdiscectomy at Mansoura University hospital during the period from January 2005 to March 2015 were retrospectively analyzed. Clinical presentation, physical signs, predisposing factors, radiological investigations and operative findings were retrieved from medical records. Improvement of pain was assessed by visual analogue scale. Results: The study included 17 females (53.1%) and 15 males (46.9%) ranging in age from 10 to18 years (mean, 14.2 year). The patients were followed up for periods ranging from three to 115 months (mean, 55 months). All patients had radicular pain (100%) with additional back pain in twenty one patients (65.63%), twenty eight patients (87.5%) presented by sciatic pain while six patients (18.75%) showed femoral neuralgia. Straight leg raising test was positive in 90.62%. L4/5 was the commonest affected level in eighteen patients (56.25%) while twelve patients (37.5%) had disc herniation at L5-S1 level and only two patients had herniation at L3-4 disc level. Family history of lumbar disc herniation in first degree relative was positive in twenty one patients (65.63%). History of relevant trauma was documented in only twelve patients (37.5%). During surgery the disc was soft, rubbery and well hydrated in 90.6% of cases. Subligamentous disc herniation was observed in 81%, while 12.5% of patients had disc bulge with intact annulus and only 6.5% had extruded disc. All patients showed significant improvement of radicular pain at the time of discharge while back pain continued to improve during early postoperative follow up. Low back pain and radicular pain equally improved after three months despite instant postoperative improvement of radicular pain. Postoperative complications were rare and included one case of wound infection, one case of iatrogenic CSF leak and new neurological deficit in another case. Conclusion: Lumbar disc herniation in pediatric population differs from that of adults in many aspects. Microdiscectomy is safe and reliable procedure for management of pediatric lumbar disc herniation with good outcome and minimal morbidity