CASE REPORTS   

Journal of Neurosurgical Sciences 2002 December;46(3-4):135-42

Copyright © 2002 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Paravertebral retropleuric microsurgery approach to the treatment of thoracic disc herniation. Personal experience and consideration of unsatisfactory results

Cerillo A., Carangelo B., Bruno M. C., Panagiotopoulos K., Santangelo M., Vizioli L.

Chair of Neurosurgery, 2nd School of Medicine “Federico II”, University of Naples, Naples, Italy

Aim. The ­authors ­report ­their expe­ri­ence on the par­a­ver­te­bral ret­ro­pleur­ic micro­sur­gery ­approach to the treat­ment of tho­rac­ic ­disc her­ni­a­tion. The ­paper ­describes ­both the ­approach and its ­result and it fur­ther ­expands on the rea­son ­behind the few cas­es of unsat­is­fac­to­ry ­results.
Methods. Twenty-­three ­patients ­were oper­at­ed ­upon for tho­rac­ic ­disc her­ni­a­tion ­between 1994 and 2000. The par­a­ver­te­bral ret­ro­pleur­ic micro­sur­gery ­approach was ­used in ­each.
Results. The ­results ­were ­very sat­is­fac­to­ry in 20 cas­es, ­with all symp­toms com­plete­ly dis­ap­pear­ing. In ­only 3 cas­es we had unsat­is­fac­to­ry ­results.
Conclusion. We ­think ­that the pos­te­ro-lat­er­al ret­ro­pleur­ic ­approach is a ­correct meth­od for the treat­ment of tho­rac­ic ­disc her­ni­a­tion ­because it did not ­cause any sig­nif­i­cant ­bone inter­ven­tion.