Dr. Rami Hamed Medical Blog

10 Facts about Lumbar Disc Prolapse

Written by Dr. Rami Hamed | September 08, 2016

Read carefully these 10 statistical facts about lumbar disc prolapse:

You were told that you have a disc prolapse and worried what is the next step. below are the statistical facts summarized for you in a simple way. hope this will answer most of your questions.

  1. More than 10% of people who do not have any complaints in their back have a disc prolapse with no single symptoms.
  2. 93% of acute lumbar disc prolapse settle down with conservative management within 3 months.
  3. We only treat 7% of acute lumbar disc prolapses surgically.
  4. Disc prolapse in the lumbar region can disappear with time spontaneously, with the help of auto-immune mechanism as body defense mechanism (it is a god gift rather than Doctor, physiotherapist, osteopath, or chiropractor miracle - miracles do not happen after profits era).
  5. The Success rate of lumbar disc prolapse endoscopic surgery is 95%.
  6. The Success rate of percutaneous lumbar disc excision is less than 50%.
  7. The Success rate of thermal or laser coagulation of prolapsed lumbar disc is less than 50%.
  8. A Higher rate of success of the above non-surgical treatment within the 3 month window period is probably related the normal healing process rather than the procedure itself.
  9. Endoscopic lumbar discectomy for prolapse has many advantages as you can read in this link.
  10. Risk of complication in normal minimally invasive lumbar microdiscectomy is 2-3%. Most complications are treatable.