es can clearly show disc prolapses, the evidence does not directly correlate to clinical symptoms(Wittenberg1998). The doctor can make a highly educated guess as to the cause of the pain, but he cannot be positive as to where the symptoms arise. This can get increasingly complicated in a case with herniations at more than one level. The pain could possibly arise from all, some, or one of the levels of irregular disc, making surgery more complicated. This idea is reinforced by a study done at Ruhr University in Germany that randomly tested people who had no history of chronic back pain by giving them all evaluative MRI’s. The study showed that sixty eight percent of the people who had no history of chronic back pain showed positive images for at least minimal disc irregularity. This concluded the theory that although MRI’s are a reliable source to determine abnormalities and structural changes, there is no definite correlation between image findings and clinical symptoms.Still, surgery is a necessary treatment for many severe cases, and is generally successful in at least reducing the amount of pain. The traditional surgery to repair a ruptured disc is referred to as a laminotomy. This procedure included a large posterior incision to expose the spine. The lamina of the vertebrae was shaved and partially removed in attempt to reach the affected area. The surgeon would then manually remove the pieces of disc herniation that were irritating the nerve. This operation was fairly successful, but had a few drawbacks. The surgery was very invasive, and generally required at least two weeks of post operative hospitalization. The possibility of scar tissue forming on the spinal cord itself also proposed a possible explanation for a failed procedure. Within the last five to ten years, the emergence of a much less invasive micro surgery for disc prolapses has made the laminotomy obsolete as a surgical procedure. The micro...
