Clinical outcomes research in spine surgery: what are appropriate follow-up times?

• Published in: Journal of neurosurgery. Spine Vol. 30; no. 3; p. 397
• Main Authors: Ayling, Oliver G S, Ailon, Tamir, McIntosh, Greg, Soroceanu, Alex, Hall, Hamilton, Nataraj, Andrew, Bailey, Christopher S, Christie, Sean, Stratton, Alexandra, Ahn, Henry, Johnson, Michael, Paquet, Jerome, Thomas, Kenneth, Manson, Neil, Rampersaud, Y Raja, Fisher, Charles G
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.03.2019
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Intervertebral Disc Degeneration - surgery; Lumbar Vertebrae - surgery; Lumbosacral Region - surgery; Male; Middle Aged; Patient Reported Outcome Measures; Quality of Life; Recovery of Function - physiology; Spinal Stenosis - surgery; Time; Treatment Outcome; DS = Disability Scale; patient-reported outcomes; registry; LSS = lumbar spinal stenosis; LDS = lumbar degenerative spondylolisthesis; VAS = visual analog scale; LDH = lumbar disc herniation; CSORN = Canadian Spine Outcomes and Research Network; PCS = Physical Component Summary; spine surgery; QOL = quality of life; follow-up duration; PRO = patient-reported outcome; MCS = Mental Component Summary
• ISSN: 1547-5646
• DOI: 10.3171/2018.8.SPINE18715

In BriefThe time course required for the patient-reported outcomes of pain, physical function, and mental health to reach a recovery plateau after elective lumbar spine surgery was assessed utilizing a prospectively maintained multicenter registry. The work is important as it demonstrates that specific health dimensions follow different recovery plateaus and it provides evidence that a 2-year postoperative follow-up is not required to accurately assess the treatment effect of established surgeries for lumbar spinal pathologies.