Intervertebral disc herniation: prevalence and association with clinical diagnosis.

BACKGROUND

Low back pain is one of the common health problems encountered in life with intervertebral disc herniation being a common cause of its occurrence. Magnetic resonance imaging has emerged the gold standard for diagnosing a herniated disc.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVE

To assess the frequency and pattern of occurrence of disc herniation as well as evaluate the association of disc herniation on magnetic resonance imaging with clinical symptoms.

METHOD

A total of 120 adult patients who came for magnetic resonance imaging scan of the lumbosacral spine for a period of 1year in the department of Radiology University of Port-Harcourt Teaching Hospital. The end plates of 600 lumbar interspaces were graded for type, size and site of lumbar disc herniation.

RESULTS

The age distribution of patients was from 18-80 years; mean age was 51.0.