Simultaneous three-level disc herniation in a patient with multiple sclerosis.

Abstract

A rare case is presented of symptomatic simultaneous multilevel disc herniation in the cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine of a 38-year-old man, which were operated on at three different timepoints. Following the third operation, the patient was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, based on pathological visual evoked potentials and cerebrospinal fluid examination. Spinal surgeons should be aware of the uncommon simultaneous presence of symptomatic disc herniations at different spinal levels, and of the possibility that such multilevel disc herniations may coexist with demyelinating diseases and may confuse the diagnosis.