Classification, diagnostic imaging, and imaging characterization of a lumbar herniated disk

Spine nomenclature will only be achieved through joint efforts by national and international scientific societies. Two basic classification models, with a completely different foundation, are currently used to report disk herniations in imaging study reports. One is based on the morphology of the disk contour and the other on patho-anatomy. Trying to straddle the two is doomed to failure because this exercise defies formal logic. MR is currently the most accurate non-invasive imaging modality to diagnose a disk herniation and to determine its exact location. The determination of some patho-anatomical characteristics of herniated disks (type, composition) may require the use of CT, diskography, or CT-diskography.