Clinical outcomes research in spine surgery: what are appropriate follow-up times?

Ayling, Oliver G S; Ailon, Tamir; McIntosh, Greg; Soroceanu, Alex; Hall, Hamilton; Nataraj, Andrew; Bailey, Christopher S; Christie, Sean et al. · J Neurosurg Spine · 2019

prospective_cohort · Level II

Where this comes from

Abstract

In BriefThe time course required for the patient-reported outcomes of pain, physical function, and mental health to reach a recovery plateau after elective lumbar spine surgery was assessed utilizing a prospectively maintained multicenter registry. The work is important as it demonstrates that specific health dimensions follow different recovery plateaus and it provides evidence that a 2-year postoperative follow-up is not required to accurately assess the treatment effect of established surgeries for lumbar spinal pathologies.

Medical subject headings

Anatomy