Critical Comments on a Comparison of Two Series (1000 PatientsEach) of Lumbar Disc Surgery

In 1973, together with Konig and Mohr (2) we published a review of the clinical observations and results of surgical therapy in 1000 patients with lumbar disc lesions, in which the records as well as follow-up studies were evaluated. The results of this series were surprisingly favorable, especially with respect to the relapse frequency. However, the question remained open as to what extent wandering away of patients with a poor postoperative course to other clinics might have been a source of error in the evaluation.