Surgical Treatment of Thoracic Discopathy (Degenerative Disc Disease)

Degenerative disc disease of the thoracic segment of the spine is a relatively rare phenomenon among numerous spine diseases. Thanks to the introduction of diagnostics and the application of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the diagnosis of the disease has increased. The range of symptoms differs very much from the chronic, non-specific pain and sudden neurological losses. Interventions related to thoracic discopathy constitute only 5% of surgeries of all disc diseases. In the surgical treatment of disc disease of the thoracic segment, there are no established standards of proceedings. In 1990, Mack et al. for the first time applied the thoracoscopy technique for spine interventions, and in 1995 Caputy et al. described VATS technique for thoracic discsectomy. In our study, we present 5 patients aged between 15 and 53 operated on by means of endoscopic technique, due to thoracic discopathy. Diagnosis was made on the basis of rentgenographic imaging and magnetic resonance imaging of the thoracic spine and electrophysiological and neurological tests. Indications for the intervention were the following: ailments, neurological defects and disorders in SSEP (Somato Sensoric Evoked Potentials) trace. The insufficient material does not allow neither for carrying out statistical research nor for carrying out comparison with other communications in literature, which are most often of a casuistic character.