Effectiveness of Discectomy for Pain Control in Lumber Radiculopathy

Objective: To know about the effectiveness of discectomy for pain control in lumber radiculopathy. Material and Methods: This prospective observational study was conducted in Neurosurgery Department PGMI Lady reading Hospital Peshawar from May 2013 to April 2014. All patients admitted with Lumber radiculopathy and undergone discectomy for it were included in the study “while excluding myelopathy” and recurrent lumber radiculopathy. Patients age, gender, level of radiculopathy, pre operative symptoms, post operative improvement and deterioration in pain based on visual analogue scale were recorded on a designed Proforma. Patients were followed post-operatively for a minimum of 6 months. Data was entered and analyzed using SPSS version 17 and expressed in the form of tables and charts. Results: Total 84 patients were include in this study in which males were 51 (60.7%) and females 33 (39.3%). Based on levels of lumber radiculopathy L2 – L3 cases were 1 (1.2%), L3 – L4 3 (3.6%), L4 – L5. 31 (36.9) and L5 – S1. 49 (58.3%), Regarding age of the patients majority of the patients were in 3rd Dec. 23 (27.4%) and 4th Dec. 37 (44.0%) while 5th Dec. 20 (23.8%) and above 5th Dec. were 4 (4.8%). While pre operative low back-ache associated with lower limb pain corresponding to the radiculopathy was present in all patients (100%). Post operatively back pain was relieved in 72 (85.71%) and leg pain in 82 (97.61%) cases while back ache and leg pain were not relieved in 12 (14.29%), 2 (2.29%) successively (at the end of 6 months). Conclusion: Lumber radiculopathy due to prolapsed intervertabral disc occurs most commonly at L4-5, L5 – S1 in young to middle age peoples and discectomy is cost effective and safe procedure for it if done by experienced hands