Assessment of Lumbar Disc Disease Presentation and Surgical Outcomes at National Hospital Abuja, North Central Nigeria

Lumbar disc disease is an increasingly recognised cause of disability and surgical consultation in Nigerian tertiary centres, driven by occupational ergonomics, road traffic injuries, and the growing middle-aged population. This study assesses the clinical presentation, diagnostic workup, surgical management, and outcomes of lumbar disc disease at the National Hospital Abuja, North Central Nigeria. A retrospective cross-sectional design is applied to neurosurgery unit records from 2019 to 2023. Data include age, sex, duration of symptoms, neurological deficits, MRI disc level involvement, surgical procedure (microdiscectomy, laminectomy, or fusion), length of admission, and postoperative neurological recovery at six-week review. SPSS is used for analysis. Literature from Nigerian neurosurgical centres indicates that L4-L5 and L5-S1 levels account for over 75 percent of symptomatic disc herniations, with severe neurological deficits at presentation linked to poorer functional recovery post-operatively. The Oswestry Disability Index and the MacNab criteria for surgical outcome assessment guide the functional evaluation framework. Findings will support the neurosurgery unit in implementing a standardised pre-operative functional assessment protocol and benchmarking its outcomes against comparable regional centres. Keywords: lumbar disc disease, discectomy, neurosurgery, National Hospital Abuja, North Central Nigeria.