ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Association of lumbar facet tropism and orientation with lumbar disc herniation is an issue of concern.OBJECTIVE: To overview the association of lumbar facet tropism and orientation with lumbar disc herniation and to clarify the existing problems.METHODS: The articles related to the association of lumbar facet tropism and orientation with lumbar disc herniation published between January 1967 and January 2017 were retrieved from CNKI and PubMed databases by computer. The keywords were "lumbar facet joints, lumbar disc herniation, facet orientation and tropism" in Chinese and English, respectively. Totally 42 articles were enrolled based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) The association of lumbar facet tropism and orientation with lumbar disc herniation remains unclear. The relationship between the orientation of lumbar disc herniation and lumbar facet tropism is also controversial. (2) The main problems to drive controversy are: inappropriate control group and lacking normal lumbar facet tropism and orientation data; the large age range of subjects;the uncertain standard of measuring lumbar facet tropism.
