Roentgenographic changes in 188 patients 10-20 years after discography and chemonucleolysis.

One hundred eighty-eight patients, 24% of those originally injected, were followed for 10-20 years after chemonucleolysis and discography. An attempt was made to correlate their clinical results with the degenerative changes seen on their follow-up x-rays. No relationship was found. Narrowing of the treated discs were routinely seen early, with little additional narrowing over the subsequent years. No long-term deleterious effects were seen. Discography without chemonucleolysis did not cause degenerative changes in a disc.