Intervertebral disc herniation: prevalence and association with clinical diagnosis.

Background: Low back pain is one of the common health problems encountered in life with intervertebral disc herniation being a common cause of its occurrence. Magnetic resonance imaging has emerged the gold standard for diagnosing a herniated disc.

Aims and Objective: To assess the frequency and pattern of occurrence of disc herniation as well as evaluate the association of disc herniation on magnetic resonance imaging with clinical symptoms.

Method: A total of 120 adult patients who came for magnetic resonance imaging scan of the lumbosacral spine for a period of 1year in the department of Radiology University of Port-Harcourt Teaching Hospital. The end plates of 600 lumbar interspaces were graded for type, size and site of lumbar disc herniation.

Results: The age distribution of patients was from 18-80 years; mean age was 51.0.