Huge Intracanal Lumbar Disc Herniation: a Review of Four Cases

Lumbar disc herniation (LDH) is the most common cause of sciatica and only in about 10% of the affected patients, surgical intervention is necessary. The side of the patient (the side of most prominent clinical complaints) is usually consistent with the side of imaging (the side with most prominent disc herniation on imaging scans). In this case series, we presented our experience in four cases with huge intracanal LDH that a mismatch between the patient's side and the imaging's side was present. In these cases, for deciding to do the operation, the physicians need to rely more on clinical findings, but for deciding the side of discectomy, imaging characteristic (imaging side) may be a more important criterion.