Acute bilateral foot drop due to lumbar disc herniation treated by bilateral interlaminar approach: case report and literature review

Abstract

Foot drop due to lumbar disc herniation (LDH) is a relatively common finding in spinal practice. Bilateral foot drop (BFD) due to LDH is an extremely rare condition with only a few reported cases. We describe the case of a middle-aged man presenting with a rapid onset BFD with back and leg pain. Urgent MRI revealed an L4-L5 centrally located LDH with bilateral compression of the L5 nerve roots and the cauda equina centrally. About 4 h after presentation surgery was performed adopting a bilateral L4-L5 interlaminar approach and the prolapsed disc was removed. Nine months after surgery, the patient showed a complete recovery of his deficit. We discuss the advantages of this approach in this urgent situation and we compare it with other techniques.

Keywords:

• Lumbar disc herniation
• lumbar stenosis
• foot drop
• bilateral foot drop
• minimally invasive surgery
• microdiscectomy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.