Postlaminectomy lumbar pseudomeningocele: report of four cases.

Pseudomeningocele formation is unusual after a lumbar discectomy. Four patients who developed a pseudomeningocele after lumbar disc surgery are reported. The pseudomeningocele was symptomatic in three patients. The diagnosis of a pseudomeningocele was made by computed tomography in conjunction with myelography in three patients and magnetic resonance imaging in the fourth. All patients underwent surgery for the pseudomeningocele with primary closure of the dural defect (the patient whose meningocele was asymptomatic also had an excision of an extruded disc), and postoperative results were gratifying.