Is there a link between lumbar disc herniation and haemogram parameters?

Aim: Inflammatory mechanisms play a key role in the pathogenesis of back pain related to disc hernia. Novel and promising inflammatory markers in routine hemogram tests are mean platelet volume (MPV) and red cell distribution width (RDW). We aimed to compare the MPV and RDW values of lumbar disc herniation (LDH) patients with healthy subjects and the symptomatic patients with sciatalgia but without radiological evidence of lumbar disc herniation. Materials and Methods: This retrospective cohort study was carried out in the department of neurosurgery of Abant Izzet Baysal University Education and Research Hospital. We designed three groups including control (n=57), LDH (n=73) and sciatalgia (n=20). Hemogram parameters containing white blood cell count (WBC), hemoglobin (Hb), hematocrit (Htc), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), RDW, platelet count (PLT), and MPV of the subjects of control, LDH and sciatalgia groups were evaluated. Results: Mean MPV of the LDH, sciatalgia and control groups were 9.3 ± 1.8 fL, 8.2 ±1.1fL and 8.4 ±1.0fL, respectively. Mean MPV values of LDH group were significantly higher than sciatalgia and control groups(p=0.001). Mean RDW values of the LDH, sciatalgia and control groups were 14.8 ± 1.8, 13.8 ±1.0 and 13.7 ±1.2, respectively. Mean RDW values of LDH group were also significantly higher than sciatalgia and control groups (p=0.001). Discussion and Conclusion: We think that elevated MPV and RDW should be strong indicators of LDH in patients with sciatalgia and they should be considered prior to imaging studies. However, more prospective studies supporting our results are needed