Microsurgical lumbar discectomy: a personal series of 300 patients with at least 1 year of follow-up.

A personal series of 300 cases of lumbar disc disease treated by microsurgical lumbar discectomy is presented. Follow-up is available in all cases. Good to excellent results are reported in 94% of the patients. Six patients (2%) have needed repeat surgery at the same level, all with good results. One of these six patients has had third-time exploration at the same level. There has been no mortality; one patient had a superficial wound infection, two suffered from minor pulmonary emboli, and one patient had an MI in the postoperative period. Surgical technique as used by the author is discussed.