[Pathogenesis of spinal osteochondrosis and its neurologic manifestations at different ages]

The paper deals with the modern pathogenetic concepts of vertebral osteochondrosis in the age aspect. It was demonstrated that most frequently vertebrogenic lesions of the peripheral nervous system appear in patients aged 30 to 50 years. The role of different pathogenetic mechanisms in the development of the disease (biochemical, autoimmune changes in the intravertebral discs, the state of the higher nervous acitivity, the vestibular apparatus, etc.) was investigated. Pathomorphological studies permitted to establish certain correlations between the intensity of the generative-dystrophic changes in the lumbar part of the vertebral column and the level of the blood supply. Vertebral osteochondrosis can be considered as a polyetiologic but monopathogenetic disease, the clinical signs of which depend upon different endogenous and exogenous factors. The clinical traits of vertebrogenic diseases of the peripheral nervous system in children and adolescents, as well as in patients of old age are described.