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Patients with sciatica and documented disk herniation commonly undergo repeat magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) if symptoms persist. To describe findings on follow-up imaging, researchers examined data from a previously published trial in which 283 patients with sciatica were randomized to either disk surgery or conservative management; about 40% of the conservatively managed patients crossed over to surgery during 1 year of follow-up (JW Gen Med May 30 2007). Patients underwent MRI at baseline and at 1 year.
At 1 year, about 84% of patients in the conservative-management and surgery groups had favorable clinical outcomes. One-year MRIs still revealed herniated disks in one third of patients and nerve-root compression in one quarter; interest…