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Chemonucleolysis for relief of sciatica due to a herniated intervertebral disc.

Chemonucleolysis is the nonoperative chemical removal of displaced lumbar disc material. The enzyme chymopapain, which has a wide margin of safety between its effective therapeutic and toxic doses, is effective in the management of sciatica due to a herniated intervertebral disc. The patient will have leg pain as the dominant symptom and a 50% reduction in straight-leg raising with or without bowstring discomfort and crossover pain. Neurologic symptoms and signs are usual, as are abnormal results of contrast studies, which will verify the level of involvement. In 220 randomly selected patients who met criteria for the diagnosis of sciatica due to a herniated intervertebral disc and did not have psychogenic or nonorganic spinal pain, a spinal stenosis or a history of a previous, unsuccessful operation to relieve the sciatica, chemonucleolysis had a success rate of 80%. The only complications were a severe anaphylactic reaction in two patients and lesser, delayed reactions in five others. All of the reactions were successfully treated. Of the 45 patients in whom chemonucleolysis was unsuccessful, 38 underwent a laminectomy. In 3 of the 38 the results of chemonucleolysis were initially good, but later the disc herniation recurred; thus, the long-term treatment failure rate was 1.4%.