Objective: Herniation of the nucleus pulposus (HNP) is the leading cause of sciatica. The standard diagnostic test is magnetic resonance imaging and treatment can be conservative or surgical. The most common surgical technique is lumbar microdiscectomy. The objective of the study was to know the epidemiological and clinical profile, as well as the surgical results of patients undergoing lumbar microdiscectomy at the Almenara Hospital from January 2018 to August 2021.

Methods: Descriptive, retrospective, and cross-sectional epidemiological study. We found 82 patients who underwent lumbar microdiscectomy with complete data in the clinical history. The data was collected from the clinical history of hospitalization and outpatient consultation. Proportions were applied for qualitative variables and mean with confidence interval in quantitative variables.

Results: Of the total number of patients, 69.51% were male, the most frequent age group was 31-50 years, and most came from Lima. The most frequently operated anatomical levels were L4 and L5. Regarding the clinic, 95.12% presented positive Lasegue. The mean preoperative VAS decreased from 7.83 to 2.00. Recurrence was 4.88% and the most frequent complication was inadvertent durotomy.

Conclusions: HNP is the most common cause of sciatica. The most frequent surgical management is lumbar microdiscectomy, which has good clinical results as well as a low rate of complications and recurrence.

   Keywords: Spine, Sciatica, Nucleus Pulposus, Diskectomy, Neurosurgical Procedures. (Source: MeSH NLM)