Long term outcomes of surgical and nonsurgical management of sciatica secondary to lumbar HNP: 10 year results.

Atlas SJ et al Spine Apr 15, 2005.

This 10 year Maine study supports previous population studies on surgery vs. conservative treatments.

It points out that surgical patients tend to have worse baseline symptoms and poorer functional status.

At 10 years 25% of surgery patients had opted for at least one additional operation and 25% of the non-surgical group had at least one operation as well. At 10 years 69% of surgery patients reported improvement vs. 61% of non-surgical patients.  A larger proportion of surgical patients reported their back and leg symptoms were ‘much better or completely gone’(56% vs 40%) and were more satisfied with their current status (71% vs. 56%). When work and disability status were compared it was comparable between both groups.