Symptom recurrence and associated factors in postoperative patients with lumbar degenerative disease.
Satomi Matsushima, Shuntaro Tsuchida, Tomoya Muta and 4 others
PMID 37915450WHAT IT FOUND
After lumbar degenerative disease surgery, 12 of 160 patients needed reoperation, and the mean recurrence period was 15.3 months.
Patients in the reoperation group had more preoperative back pain and lower 3-month objective findings.
Key findings
01Of 160 postoperative patients, 12 were in the reoperation group, and the mean recurrence period was 15.3 months.
02The reoperation group had significantly higher preoperative back pain scores, significantly lower 3-month JOA objective finding scores, and a significantly different change in back pain from before surgery to 3 months.
03No significant differences were observed in patient characteristics between the good progression and reoperation groups.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The study was retrospective and used records from one hospital, so the findings may not apply to other patients or surgical teams. Only 12 patients were in the reoperation group, which makes it hard to tell whether differences between groups are meaningful. No significant differences were found in patient characteristics, but the authors say this may be because the reoperation group was small. Reoperation was defined by decline in activities of daily living at 3 months, so it may miss patients who worsened differently or later. The study did not test a physiotherapy program, so it cannot show that any treatment prevented or caused recurrence.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that early discharge, physiotherapy, or back pain caused reoperation. This was a retrospective record review, and it did not test whether any treatment prevented recurrence. The reoperation group was small, so the observed differences may not establish a cause.