Discography: Its Role in the Diagnosis of Lumbar Disc Protrusion

T HE diagnosis and treatment of lumbar disc protrusions are usually straightforward and effective. In some patients, however, an accurate diagnosis cannot be made. Exploratory surgery may be performed in an effort to find and to remove the offending disc. If this fails, the patient becomes even more uncomfortable. Surgery should aim to preserve the integrity of normal tissue whenever possible and, therefore, should be therapeutic rather than diagnostic. We have tried discography as an adjunct to myelography in order to clarify the diagnosis in those patients suspected of harboring disc protrusions but whose myelograms were normal or equivocal. We also wished, in a specific series, to compare the accuracy of discography with that of myelography.