Patient satisfaction with cluneal nerve entrapment surgery

• Published in: Acta neurochirurgica 2022-10, Vol.164 (10), p.2667-2671
• Main Authors: Kim, Kyongsong, Kokubo, Rinko, Isu, Toyohiko, Morimoto, Daijiro, Morita, Akio
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Humans; Interventional Radiology; Low back pain; Low Back Pain - surgery; Lumbar Vertebrae - surgery; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Minimally Invasive Surgery; Nerve Compression Syndromes - surgery; Neurology; Neuroradiology; Neurosurgery; Neurosurgical Procedures - methods; Original Article - Peripheral Nerves; Patient Satisfaction; Patients; Peripheral Nerves; Surgery; Surgical Orthopedics; Treatment Outcome
• ISSN: 0942-0940; 0001-6268; 0942-0940
• DOI: 10.1007/s00701-022-05344-1

Introduction Low back pain (LBP) from superior or middle cluneal nerve entrapment has been addressed surgically. We recorded patient satisfaction with this treatment. Methods We included 22 consecutive patients who had undergone surgery for unilateral cluneal nerve entrapment (superior: n  = 17, middle: n  = 5). The numerical rating scale (NRS) for LBP, the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) score, and the EuroQOL 5-dimension, 5-level (EQ-5D-5L) scale before and 6 months after the operation were compared. Using these scores, the treatment outcome was compared with the patients’ preoperative expectations. Results LBP was ameliorated in all 22 patients; their NRS, ODI, and EQ-5D-5L were significantly improved after surgery. Surgical satisfaction based on the postoperative NRS scores was recorded as 8.8 ± 1.1 (range 7–10). While the postoperative was significantly better than the expected NRS, the postoperative ODI was significantly higher than expected by the patients (both: p