Introduction:
Symptomatic thoracic disc herniations (TDHs) are relatively rare and challenging due to the wide variety of clinical presentations, a lack of consensus on the surgical indications, and the variety of surgical approaches. Our objective was to describe our series of calcified thoracic disc herniations and their outcomes.
Materials and Methods:
A retrospective cohort study of ten patients with calcified TDH received surgery between 2008 and 2013. Data were collected by reviewing the patients’ notes and radiological studies, and included basic demographic data, clinical presentation and outcome, operative procedure, and complications. The ten patients included six males and four females (mean age: 35.6 years, range: 22–58 years). The mean follow-up was 28.1 (12–48) months. All patients received surgery with a transpedicular approach, and posterior transpedicular stabilization was performed for seven patients.
Results:
In the preoperative period, three patients were Nurick grade 1, two were grade 2, three were grade 3, and two were grade 4. Surgical treatment obtained satisfactory results and the Nurick grade improved in all of the patients (100%), with five patients postoperatively Nurick grade 0, and five patients Nurick grade 1. The mean Nurick grade improved from 2.4 to 0.5.
Conclusion:
Calcified TDH remains a surgical challenge. The goal of surgery is to decompress the neural elements without any manipulation of the spinal cord aside from that required by the surgical technique. When adequately diagnosed and treated, satisfactory results can be achieved.
Keywords: Thoracic disc herniation, transpedicular approach, surgical results.