Evaluation of surgical complications after herniated spinal lumbar disc surgery

Objective: One of the important and common complications of spinal surgery is Failed Back Surgery Syndrome (FBSS). The most significant symptom of this syndrome is prolonged pain after the surgery, which comes with many complications. Due to the importance of chronic pain after spinal surgeries and its complications, we have decided to investigate the prevalence of acute and chronic pain and other consequences after lumbar disc herniation surgery. Methods: In this descriptive retrospective cohort study, 236 patients were selected using the available sampling method. Then, these patients were evaluated for complications such as worsening pain, the need for repeat surgery, mortality rate, and the level of symptom improvement. The checklist includes demographic information about the patient and information during and after surgery, which can be extracted from the patient's medical record. Additionally, the patient's preoperative pain severity and the occurrence and severity of acute and chronic pain after surgery, sensory and motor disability after surgery, and the need for repeat surgery are extracted through telephone contact with the patient, using the VAS scale as a criterion. Results: In this study, out of 236 patients who underwent discectomy surgery, 115 female patients (48.7 %) and 121 male patients (51.3 %). The mean age of this study was 51.81 years, with the minimum age being 36 and the maximum age being 60 years. 70 patients (66.29%), experienced postoperative complications in this study. Of these, 15 patients (3.6%) experienced only acute pain, 16 patients (7.6%) experienced only chronic pain, and 39 patients (5.16%) experienced both acute and chronic pain. In addition, 42 patients (8.17%) experienced sensory-motor deficits after the operation, and 24 patients (2.10%) required further surgery after the first operation. Conclusion: Age and smoking are among the influential factors in the surgical outcome for the patient. In addition, a history of underlying disease, especially diabetes, can have an impact on the occurrence of pain and sensory-motor disability after the operation. Among the effective therapeutic factors in the surgical outcome, the length of surgery and the use of postoperative narcotics can be mentioned. Additionally, the type of surgical technique and anesthesia can also be influential factors in the surgery, which require further study with a larger population and a variety of surgical techniques and anesthesia.