[Surgery of lumbar disk hernia: historical perspective]

Abstract

Although the clinical picture of discogenic sciatica is well known already in the ancient world, it is not until 1933 that WJ Mixter and JS Barr provide the correct pathogenetic interpretation and suggest surgery as the treatment of choice. The work of the American Authors was however based on the knowledge acquired during the previous centuries starting with Domenico Cotugno, who first suggested the neurogenic nature of sciatica (1764) and later with the neurologists of the french school Valleix, Lasègue, Dejerine, Sicard who elucidated the semeiology and debated in detail the etiopathogenesis of the condition. The german pathologists Schmorl and Andrae (1927-29) are to be credited for their contribution to the pathology of intervertebral disc, recognizing the frequency and degenerative (not neoplastic) nature of nucleus pulposus herniation. Surgery of disc herniation starts with Oppenheim and Krause (1909). Mixter and Barr used laminectomy and a transdural route although a more limited approach to the spinal canal had already been proposed by the italian Bonomo (1902), unknown to many. Love, of the Mayo Clinic (1937-39) introduced the extradural/interlaminar approach while Caspar and Yasargil (1977) applied the concepts of microsurgery to the procedure. The latest advances are represented by percutaneous and endoscopic techniques.