title: Does duration of preoperative sciatica impact surgical outcomes in patients with lumbar disc herniation?
abstract: Background. In lumbar disc herniation, most authors recommend nonoperative treatment for the first few weeks of presentation, but what about the upper limit of this golden period? The aim of this study is to assess the effect of preoperative sciatica duration on surgical outcome of lumbar disc herniation. Methods. We retrospectively evaluated 240 patients (124 males and 116 females) with a mean age of 36.4 ± 5.9 years (range 16 to 63) surgically treated due to primary stable L4-L5 disc herniation. The patients were placed into two groups: with more and less than 12-month duration of preoperative sciatalgia. Disability and pain were measured by Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). Wilcoxon test and Mann-Whitney U test were used for statistical analysis. Results. Total mean duration of preoperative sciatalgia and follow-up period were 13.3 months (range 2 to 65) and 33.7 ± 5.1 months (range 24 to 72), respectively. Comparison between the groups showed that duration of preoperative sciatalgia either less or more than 12 months did not affect the surgical outcomes significantly. Conclusions. More or less than 12-month duration of preoperative sciatalgia may not affect the surgical outcomes of simple lumbar disc herniation in the patients undergoing discectomy.
authors.affiliation: Orthopedic Research Center, Orthopedic Department, Imam Reza Hospital, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad 913791-3316, Iran.
authors.forename: Farzad
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-6964-3982
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Omidi-Kashani
authors.affiliation: Orthopedic Research Center, Orthopedic Department, Imam Reza Hospital, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad 913791-3316, Iran.
authors.forename: Ebrahim
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ghayem Hasankhani
authors.affiliation: Orthopedic Research Center, Orthopedic Department, Imam Reza Hospital, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad 913791-3316, Iran.
authors.forename: Amir Reza
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-7795-1830
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Kachooei
authors.affiliation: Orthopedic Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad 913791-3316, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad Dawood
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-6282-1862
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Rahimi
authors.affiliation: College of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad 9177948974, Iran.
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Khanzadeh