FAILED BACK SURGERY SYNDROME

Abstract

Background: Chronic low back pain is a serious health problem. Chronic pain affects negatively quality of life and should be treated as interest as personal handicapping issues. Objective: To discuss etiologies and risk factors of failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS) with evaluation of different management modalities to help lowering its incidence and upgrading patient’s outcome. Patients and methods: This was a cross sectional retrospective study on randomized group of patients (50 patients) performed between May 2014 and May 2018 at El Sheikh Zayed specialized hospital. They complained from lower back pain with or without legs pain and had done one or more lumbar surgeries. All patients were subjected to history taking and neurological examination (motor power, stretch signs - strait leg raising, femoral stretch- and bladder control). Radiographic documentation was for all patients including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS). Results: Forty-four patients (88%) were managed by surgical re-intervention after clinical evaluation including complain analysis and neurological assessment and correlating it with pre-operative radiological findings. Six patients (12%) were found to have no radiological findings correlated to their complaints. Conclusion: Failed back surgery syndrome acts like a malignant disease that we are unable to completely treat it, but we can control it. In our study, we can catch many factors which will help. Patient selection to be fit candidate for lumbar surgery is a main matter.