Herniated disc tissue removed at surgery usually appears degenerated, and MRI often reveals degenerative changes in adjacent discs and vertebrae. This has fostered the belief that a disc Surgically-removed discs were examined using histology, immunohistochemistry and confocal microscopy. 21 samples of herniated tissues were compared with age-matched tissues excised from 11 patients whose discs had reached a similar Pfirrman grade of degeneration but without herniating. Degenerative changes were assessed separately in three tissue types (where present): nucleus, inner annulus, and outer annulus. Mann-Whitney U tests were used to compare ‘herniated’ vs ‘in-situ’ tissues.Introduction
Methods
