The role of diskography after negative postmyelography CT scans: retrospective review

Review of our records for a 2-year period (1985-1986) yielded 15 patients in whom unequivocally normal myelograms and postmetrizamide CT scans had been obtained before diskography. In none of these patients was the diskogram or postdiskography CT scan positive for either central, posterolateral, or extreme lateral disk herniation. It was our experience that, with the new-generation, improved-resolution CT scanners with multiplanar reconstruction capabilities, diskography added no additional information, did not influence the surgeon's decision to operate, and was not a painless or innocuous procedure. When an entirely negative, technically flawless postcontrast CT scan is obtained in a patient with back pain, diskography should not be performed, as it offers no further information.