A total of 120 patients with disc herniation surgery were enrolled in a study. The samples were excited during discectomy and then cultured in both anaerobic and aerobic incubations. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was performed for determination of antibiotic susceptibility.

Of 120 samples, 60 (50%) samples were positive for microorganisms. Disc herniation was at the level of L4-L5 in 63 cases and L5-S1 in 57 cases.

According to the results and presence of P. acnes in more than 35% of the cultured samples, the presence of P. acnes in lumbar disc herniation is a suspected element leading to this condition. After analysis of the antibiotics, the lowest MIC value was identified for amoxicillin, ciprofloxacin, erythromycin, rifampicin, tetracycline, vancomycin; the moderate MIC value was for fusidic acid; and the highest MIC value was for gentamicin and trimethoprim ¹⁾.