No and maybe: They are not necessarily more painful than any located disc herniation. However, the approach to removing them is more technically involved in the thoracic region than in the cervical or lumbar regions. As with cervical disc herniations, the traditional approach is an anterior one but in the thoracic region this involves going through a lung cavity although a thoroscopic approach can be used
Answered 9/16/2012
5.6k views
Thoracic Disk: Pain is too subjective to answer, but to answer the second part of your questions, yes. Unlike the cervical spine, where the disk is pretty close to the skin, we can't easily remove a thoracic disk from the front, the heart and lungs are in the way. Unlike the lumbar spine, where the spinal cord has ended, the thoracic spine still contains the spinal cord. More risky and more difficult to remove.
Answered 3/25/2015
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