Macrophage tissue infiltration, clinical symptoms, and signs in patients with lumbar disc herniation. A clinicopathological study on 179 patients

It is postulated that in addition to nerve-root compression, an inflammatory stimulus of the herniated lumbar disc is responsible for sciatic pain and radiculopathy. The clinical relevance of the histologically described inflammatory infiltrates is, however, not clearly defined [8, 22]. It was the a...

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Published in:Acta neurochirurgica 1998-01, Vol.140 (12), p.1245-1248
Main Authors: Rothoerl, R, Woertgen, C, Holzschuh, M, Brehme, K, Rüschoff, J, Brawanski, A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
Cell Movement - physiology
Discitis - pathology
Female
Humans
Immunohistochemistry
Intervertebral Disc - surgery
Intervertebral Disc Displacement - pathology
Intervertebral Disc Displacement - physiopathology
Intervertebral Disc Displacement - surgery
Lumbar Vertebrae - pathology
Lumbar Vertebrae - surgery
Macrophages - pathology
Macrophages - physiology
Male
Middle Aged
Pain
Postoperative Period
Prospective Studies
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Summary:It is postulated that in addition to nerve-root compression, an inflammatory stimulus of the herniated lumbar disc is responsible for sciatic pain and radiculopathy. The clinical relevance of the histologically described inflammatory infiltrates is, however, not clearly defined [8, 22]. It was the aim of this study to assess the clinical relevance of inflammatory cells in herniated lumbar disc specimens. The presence of inflammatory cells was examined immunohistochemically in routinely processed resection specimens of the lumbar disc. The histological results were compared to prospectively obtained clinical data. Disc specimens of 179 patients who underwent surgery for lumbar disc herniation were studied immunohistologically. Preoperatively each patient received a visual analogue scale for classification of the pain level and general clinical data were recorded prospectively. Varying amounts of inflammatory cells could be demonstrated in the resected disc tissue. In the statistical workup no statistically significant correlation between the histological evidence of macrophage infiltrates and the pain grading scale or the clinical data could be found. In our study there is no statistically significant correlation between macrophage infiltrates in herniated lumbar disc specimen and the obtained clinical data.
ISSN:0001-6268
0942-0940
DOI:10.1007/s007010050245