Syndromes associated with protrusion of upper lumbar intervertebral discs

✓ This report reviews a series of 69 patients operated on for herniations of upper lumbar intervertebral discs and identifies four syndromes related to the principal complaint. These are, in order of frequency, anterior thigh pain, low-back pain only, sciatica, and acute paraplegia. Overall, 78% had satisfactory relief of pain and 93% were improved following laminectomy. Satisfactory results were more common with protrusions at L3–4 than at L2–3. Patients in whom the onset was sciatica had a higher percentage of satisfactory results (94%) than those with anterior thigh pain (70%) or low-back pain alone (80%). Neither of the patients with a paraplegic onset had a good recovery even after removal of the extruded disc.