Spinal cord dysfunction from lumbar disk herniation.

Two patients with a herniated disk respectively at the level of the L4-L5 and of the L5-S1 intervertebral spaces presented with pyramidal signs, bladder paralysis and radicular impairment. The symptoms subsided immediately following surgical removal of the prolapsed disk. The role of transient ischemia in the lower segments of the spinal cord as possible cause of this uncommon clinical picture is discussed, and the pertinent literature is reviewed.