Lumbar disc herniation in teenagers.

We report 48 patients operated on for lumbar disc herniation in the second decade of life (aged 13-20 years) in our Neurosurgical Division. To analyze the clinical and diagnostic features and surgical outcome of the disease in teenagers and to point out any differences from adults, we made a detailed study of over 900 juvenile cases and compared them with 11000 adult cases reported in the literature. Low-back pain proved to be less frequent among youngsters both as a first symptom and at diagnosis, while sensorimotor deficits have the same frequency in the two age groups. Herniation occurs more often at L4-L5 and is more frequently median among teenagers. The long-term surgical results in children and adolescents are better than in adults.