Low back pain following discectomy for lumbar disc herniation / 中国矫形外科杂志

ABSTRACT

[Objective]To determine whether discectomy resulted in improvement in low back pain(LBP)associated with lumbar disc herniation. [Method]Two hundred and one consecutive single-level lumbar discectomy were followed up,one hundred patients underwent microendoscopic discectomy(MED group) and 101 patients were treated with conventional open discectomy(COP group).Outcomes were assessed using Visual Analog Scale(VAS) and patient satisfaction.The changes in LBP were compared between the MED group and COP group.The effects of severity of low back pain before surgery on the improvement of back and leg pain were also determined.The mean duration of follow-up was 45 months.[Result]The mean VAS leg pain significantly decreased from 70.02?15.80 before operation to 7.73?12.13 at final follow-up.A significant improvement was also noted in LBP,the mean VAS LBP score was 43.61?26.18 before surgery and 16.89?14.73 at the time of final follow-up.The important improvement in LBP and leg pain was seen in 70.1%～78.1% and 97.0% patients respectively.Improvements in back pain and leg pain were correlated(r= 0.1656,P=0.0304).The rate of important improvement of low back pain was greater in MED group than in COP group.The rate of important improvement in LBP was similar in the patients of a preponderance of LBP,a preponderance leg pain and an equivalence of LBP and leg pain,the patients with a preponderance of LBP showed a lower rate of important improvement in leg pain than the others.[Conclusion]Discectomy for relief of sciatica of lumbar disc herniation provides effective relief of LBP.The MED is more likely effective as a surgery way to relief LBP.Furthermore,it certified that the severe LBP maybe a negatively predictive factor for the follow-up outcome of leg pain.