Abstract
Introduction
It is estimated that ~80% of the population will present back pain, which can be caused by lumbar disc herniation, impairing quality of life of patients. Surgical intervention may be necessary in some cases, although there are discussions about the effectiveness of different interventions possible. We aimed therefore to evaluate the influence of microdiscectomy in quality of life of patients with low back pain and lumbar disc herniation.
Methods
Prospective and comparative study, in which we compared the results of questionnaires for quality of life (SF-36) and low back pain (Roland Morris) in patients in the pre and postoperative microdiscectomy, through Student t-test, p < 0.05.
Results
We evaluated 25 patients, 16 men and 9 women, with mean age 32,8 years. Improved quality of life as indicated by the increase in all eight components of the questionnaire SF-36: 1) functional capacity: 15.4 to 82.1; 2) physical aspects: 0 to 83.3; 3) pain: 16.6 to 80.9; 4) general state: 56.2 to 80.3; 5) vitality: 50.6 to 78.8; 6) social aspects: 32.3 to 88.5; 7) emotional aspects: 20.8 to 81.9; 8) mental health: 60.2 to 79.5. Furthermore, there was significant reduction in Roland Morris questionnaire scores (preoperative: 17.5 ± 5.1 versus postoperative: 0.9 ± 2.2), reflecting a reduction of low back pain during the postoperative period.
Conclusion: We conclude that low back pain is present and often debilitating for patients with disc herniated and, aftes lumbar microdiscectomy occurs decline or absence of back pain.