Surgical treatment and outcomes of lumbar radiculopathy.

Lumbar disk herniation is a significant cause of lumbar radiculopathy and results in billions of dollars in health care expenditure. Herniated lumbar disks cause mechanical and chemical irritation of the nerve roots leading to complaints of sciatica. Surgeons have several surgical options when approaching herniated disks, including various microsurgical procedures. The 3 most prominent studies to date on surgical and nonsurgical management of herniated disks agree on the efficacy of surgery over medical management in the short term but have some discrepancies when looking at long-term results. Cauda equina syndrome is a variation of lumbar disk herniation in which patients experience a combination of saddle anesthesia, abnormal lower extremity reflexes, and neurogenic bowel or bladder symptoms.