Results and Complicated Course after Surgery for Lumbar Disc Herniation

The statistics on lumbar disc operations hitherto published comprised mainly the cases of one or a few clinics during a long period of observation. This offers the advantage of a rather constant surgical technique. However, due to regional particularities and to changing social influences, a general evaluation becomes complicated. Thus, in order to evaluate a representative number of cases a joint follow-up study was initiated, 15 neurosurgical clinics of the FRG and of Austria entering their disc material of 1971 and 1972.