Pre-operative Assessment of the Size of the Herniated Lumbar Disc on MRI as Apredictor of Surgical Outcome

Abstract

Background: Lumbar intervertebral disc herniation (LDH) are the most common source of lumbar radiculopathy. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is considered the diagnostic imaging procedure of choice for LDH as it can provide exquisite morphologic detail of the disc abnormality. The aim of this study was to determine if baseline MRI findings including disc herniation size is associated with differential surgical treatment effect. Method: This study was conducted on Benha university hospitals on 36 patients who underwent lumbar discectomy to estimate the role of MRI as a predictor of surgical outcome (by comparison between Preoperative and postoperative leg and back pain scores, as well as functional status measured using the modified oswestry disability index (MODI). Results: The age of patients was (21-51) years, mean 36 and 22 patients (61.1 %) were males and 14 patients (38.9 %) were female, all patients suffered from Back and leg pain, 69.44% of them with lower extremity pain , Sciatica with 77.78% of them hypoesthesia and/or leg weakness was reported in 36.11% of cases. Conclusion: It can be concluded that MRI finding espicially disc size and disc height can predict the surgcail outcome. Patients with larger disc herniations, on average, may have a higher likelihood of experiencing superior clinical outcomes following discectomy. Additional findings seem to support that a patient’s preoperative functional score has the strongest influence on postoperative clinical outcome.