Trascendencia de la selección del paciente para la realización exitosa de la discectomía lumbar.

Objective: To ponder the influence of the proper application of the selection criteria on the surgical results of these patients. Methods: All patients in which lumbar discectomy was performed from September of 2005 until July of 2008 were studied. All were homogeneously selected according to the following surgical selection criteria: prevalence of radicular pain, detection of radicular signs, and non-improvement of the symptoms with conservative treatment during a minimum of two months, establishment of positive diagnosis of Lumbar Disc Herniation by means of CT scan or Magnetic Resonance, nonassociation with spinal stenosis or instability. According to neurosurgeon's preference, patients were operated by means of standard laminectomy or Caspar's microdiscectomy. Using the statistical package SPSS 15.0, tests of Chi square and ANOVA were applied. Results: When comparing the affected vertebral level, predisposing and demographic factors, complications and postoperative evolution by means of Oswestry's index at three and six months, they were not significant differences in relation to the surgical technique used. Conclusions: The proper application of the surgical selection criteria to practice lumbar discectomy and the performance of a correct surgical technique, are the most important factors to achieve short term good results in these patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]