title: Lumbar disc herniation in teenagers.
abstract: We report 48 patients operated on for lumbar disc herniation in the second decade of life (aged 13-20 years) in our Neurosurgical Division. To analyze the clinical and diagnostic features and surgical outcome of the disease in teenagers and to point out any differences from adults, we made a detailed study of over 900 juvenile cases and compared them with 11000 adult cases reported in the literature. Low-back pain proved to be less frequent among youngsters both as a first symptom and at diagnosis, while sensorimotor deficits have the same frequency in the two age groups. Herniation occurs more often at L4-L5 and is more frequently median among teenagers. The long-term surgical results in children and adolescents are better than in adults.
authors.affiliation: University of Rome La Sapienza, Department of Neurological Sciences and Neurosurgery, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ferrante
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mastronardi
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lunardi
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Puzzilli
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fortuna
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007405:Intervertebral Disc Displacement / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D017116:Low Back Pain; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult