Annular tears and disc degeneration in the lumbar spine. A post-mortem study of 135 discs.

@article{Osti1992AnnularTA,
  title={Annular tears and disc degeneration in the lumbar spine. A post-mortem study of 135 discs.},
  author={O. L. Osti and Barrie Vernon‐roberts and Robert J. Moore and Robert D. Fraser},
  journal={The Journal of bone and joint surgery. British volume},
  year={1992},
  volume={74 5},
  pages={
          678-82
        }
}
We studied 135 lumbar discs from 27 spines removed post-mortem from subjects of an average age of 31.5 years. Defects of the annulus fibrosus were classified as peripheral, circumferential or radiating; the nucleus pulposus as normal, moderately or severely degenerate. Peripheral tears were more frequent in the anterior annulus, except in the L5-S1 disc. Circumferential tears were equally distributed between the anterior and the posterior annulus. Almost all the radiating tears were in the… 
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