• Nir Shimony, Christopher Louie, David Barrow, Brooks Osburn, Mohammad Hassan A Noureldine, Gerald F Tuite, Carolyn M Carey, George I Jallo, and Luis Rodriguez.
• Institute for Brain Protection Sciences, All Children's Hospital, Johns Hopkins University and Medicine, St. Petersburg, Florida, USA; Department of Neurosurgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery, Institute of Neuroscience, Geisinger Medical Center, Danville, Pennsylvania, USA; Department of Neurosurgery, Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine, Scranton, Pennsylvania, USA. Electronic address: nshimon1@jhmi.edu.
• World Neurosurg. 2021 Apr 1; 148: e314-e320.

ObjectiveA paucity of literature is available discussing the associated risk factors, treatment options (including the use of minimally invasive surgery), and outcomes related to lumbar disc herniation (LDH) in children. We have discussed the risk factors for disc disease among pediatric patients and evaluated the efficacy of the minimally invasive approach.MethodsA retrospective review of pediatric patients with lumbar disc disease who had undergone microdiscectomy at our institution from 2005 to 2016 was conducted. The preoperative presentation, hospital course, postoperative course, and follow-up data (≥3 years) were reviewed. We evaluated the risk factors for LDH and the surgical outcomes for both groups.ResultsA total of 52 pediatric patients had undergone 61 lumbar disc surgeries for LDH in our department from 2005 to 2016. Their average age at surgery was 16.65 years. Of the 61 procedures, 48 (78.7%) had been performed via the minimally invasive spine microdiscectomy approach and 13 (21.3%) via the open microdiscectomy approach. The average body mass index for all cases was 29.3 kg/m2. The average interval to diagnosis was 7.9 months. Of the 61 cases, 21 (34.4%) had been required for patients who were competitive athletes. In addition, 15 had been for LDH related to trauma (24.6%). In 46 of the 61 cases, complete resolution of the symptoms had occurred at the 1-year follow-up visit (79.2% of minimally invasive spine microdiscectomy vs 61.5% of open microdiscectomy).ConclusionRisk factors similar to those for adult LDH, such as an elevated body mass index, can be seen in the pediatric population. However, some unique risk factors such as post-traumatic LDH were found in the pediatric age group. Minimally invasive techniques are demonstrably safe and useful in this patient population.Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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