A 10-YEAR FOLLOW-UP OF THE OUTCOME OF LUMBAR MICRODISCECTOMY

Study Design. A retrospective analysis of the outcome of lumbar microd iscectomy, with independent assessment of outcome. Objectives. To expl ore whether the initial positive outcome after microdiscectomy is main tained at longterm follow-up. Summary of Background Data. Previous rep orts on long-term outcome after lumbar disc surgery give conflicting m essages about whether an initially positive surgical outcome is mainta ined throughout a 10-year period. This is partly due to differing meth ods and the. failure to include initial outcome, thereby permitting as sessment of possible deterioration in the quality of outcome. Methods. This study presents the initial and longterm outcome after lumbar mic rodiscectomy, with an independent assessment of outcome. Eighty-eight consecutive patients undergoing lumbar microdiscectomy were identified . Assessment at 10 years after surgery was obtained in 79 (90%) of the cases. The initial outcome was assessed retrospectively by an indepen dent observer at 6 months after surgery using the Macnab classificatio n. The final outcome Macnab classification was completed by postal que stionnaire by the patients themselves, who also completed a modified R oland-Morris disability questionnaire. Results. A successful outcome a t 6 months was achieved in 91% of the cases At 10-year follow-up, this result declined slightly to an 83% success rate. However, there was n o statistically significant difference between these outcome results. The long-term Macnab classification results correlated well with disab ility, as measured by the Roland-Morris score. Patient satisfaction wi th the results of microdiscectomy 10 years later was high. Conclusions . Lumbar microdiscectomy achieves a high level of initial success, and this positive outcome is maintained at a 10-year follow-up.