Spontaneous Regression Of Lumbar Disc Herniation: Four Cases Report And Review Of The Literature
Zheng, Y., Zhu, C., Huang, J. F., Manoharasetty, A., & Zhang, H. (2024). Spontaneous regression of lumbar disc herniation: four cases report and review of the literature. Nagoya journal of medical science, 86(3), 370–382. https://doi.org/10.18999/nagjms.86.3.370
View Original Source →Abstract
Spontaneous regression of lumbar disc herniation refers to shrinkage or disappearance of herniated nucleus pulposus without invasive surgical treatments. This phenomenon has been reported and is supported by improved clinical symptoms and radiographic after conservative treatment, but the underlying mechanism remains unclear. This article reports 4 cases of disc reabsorption and reviews the distribution of several clinical and radiographic factors of disc herniation reabsorption of total 46 patients, including the four from our study, gathered from 28 recent publications. Some of these factors are present with anomalous distributions. But some factors have similar deviations in patients with lumbar disc herniation. Therefore, more research is needed to explore the correlation between those factors and disc reabsorption.
Case Details
Disease Location
L4-l5 interverterbral disc
Personal Characteristics
55-year-old female
Clinical Characteristics
Admitted with a 10-day history of radiating pain in the right lower extremity. Right straight-leg-raising test was positive. MRI revealed a right extreme lateral herniated nucleus pulposus at l4-l5 level. She was treated with physical therapy, bed rest, acupuncture, and exercises.
Remission Characteristics
After 2 months conservative treatment, she said that she was nearly symptom-free except for a little residual pain in his right leg. The MRI at that time showed that the herniated nucleus pulposus had shrunk significantly
Treatment & Mechanisms
Non-Clinical Treatment
Physical therapy, bed rest, acupuncture, exercises.