[Early results of surgical treatment of herniated nucleus pulposus in the lumbar spine in adults patients].

Between 1978 and 1997, 2250 patients underwent surgery due to nucleus pulposus herniation in the lumbar spine at the Department of Neurosurgery of the Medical Academy in Białystok. Surgery was performed on 718 women (31.9% of the cases) and 1532 men (68.1% of the cases) age ranging from 19 to 71 years. In 90.1% of cases herniation was found at levels L4-L5 and L5-S1. In most cases the herniated disc was removed following a fenestration (58.7% of the cases) or following hemilaminectomy of the vertebral arch (28.5% of the cases). Basing on a questionnaire sent out 12 months post-surgery 78.3% of the female patients and 68.3% of the male patients evaluated the results of the above treatment as very good. Within the 12 months observation follow-up period, 9.9% of the analyzed group underwent repeated surgery.