This article is only available in the PDF format. Download the PDF to view the article, as well as its associated figures and tables.
This small monograph is an excellent account of disease of the cervical intervertebral disks, based on personal experience with 50 cases, brief histories of which are given. The authors give a brief account of the history of this subject, followed by a study of the normal and pathologic anatomy of the disks, the pathogenesis and etiology of diseases of these structures, clinical and roentgenologic findings, the principal clinical modalities, diagnosis and treatment.
They suggest that the term "herniated disk" be replaced by that of discopathie, since the usual lesion is a necrotic degenerative process of the intervertebral cartilage. This lesion, which may be of traumatic, infectious or abiotrophic origin, may have one of two immediate effects, partial or total collapse of the disk, resulting in its protrusion or the dislocation of the chain of vertebral bodies. The secondary results are compression either of the spinal cord or of the cervical