Role of Inflammatory Mediators, Growth Factors, and Osteodystrophy in Recurrent Lumbar Disk Herniation

Introduction. Reintervention in patients with spinal disk herniation is shown to significantly decrease likelihood of favorable outcomes in the postoperative period. Thus, it is important to individually assess risk factors for and likelihood of spinal disk herniation recurrence for each patient, and choose a suitable surgical option.

Objective: to evaluate changes in the levels of immunoregulatory mediators in the blood serum and extracted spinal disc tissue of allegedly healthy individuals and patients with lumbar disk herniation relapses.

Materials and methods. We examined 60 patients. The control group included 19 patients with traumatic spinal cord injuries at the lumbar level. The main group included 41 patients with spinal disk herniation. Twenty-two individuals had primary herniation while 11 patients presented with single clinical and neurological relapses at the pre-operated lumbar level and 8 patients presented with recurrent relapses. Solid-phase enzyme immunoassay detected proinflammatory cytokines (interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-α), chemokines (interleukin-8, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1), growth factors (vascular endothelial growth factor, transforming growth factor-β1), and osteodestruction markers (osteoprogesterin, matrix metalloproteinase-8) in the blood serum and the extracted spinal disc tissue.

Results. We found that spinal disk destruction and chronic inflammation developed with both locally and generally elevating levels of proinflammatory cytokines/chemokines, growth factors, and matrix metalloproteinase 8.

Conclusion. The results emphasize the significance of local changes in the studied parameters to choose and plan personalized surgical treatment in patients with spinal disk herniation.