Clinical and pathological considerations in lumbar herniated disc associated with inflammatory lesions

Lumbar herniated disc is the most frequent cause for lumbar pain. It is caused by degenerative, macroscopic and microscopic changes of the intervertebral discs. It is a chronic disease, with periods of exacerbation and remission under drug and physiotherapeutic treatment. When the disc lesions are large, with intense symptoms, reduced or impossible movements, with pain radiating to the sciatic nerve trajectory, a surgical treatment is required, to remove the herniated nucleus pulposus and decompress the nerve roots. Patients who present high inflammatory signs, high inflammatory serous markers, may have a longer postoperative recovery period, while the motor recovery may be late and incomplete. We analyzed a group of 24 patients with lumbar herniated disc that required discectomy, with clear inflammatory signs, together with histopathological and immunohistochemical changes present in the herniated disc.