Computed tomography of the asymptomatic postsurgical lumbar spine: analysis of the physiologic scar.

Computed tomography (CT) has been shown to be an effective noninvasive means of imaging the lumbar spine in patients with suspected disk disease. The clinical and radiographic evaluation, however, of patients with new or recurrent symptoms after surgery for disk disease is fraught with difficulty. This report describes CT changes seen in seven asymptomatic volunteers scanned at various intervals after disk surgery and discusses the implications of these findings.