Spine surgeons generally agree on when patients with degenerative spinal disorders need surgery, however, they disagree on the appropriate surgical intervention, according to a study published in Spine.
Six clinical vignettes were presented to 19 members of the Degenerative Spine Study Group who were asked to recommend treatment. The same vignettes were sent to the same instructors two months later with the instructions to recommend treatment for these patients pretending the patients were close family members.
More than 76 percent of the surgeons agreed on whether or not to recommend surgical intervention for the cases that included lumbar degenerative spondylolisthesis with stenosis, cervical herniated nucleus pulposus, lumbar spondylolisthesis and lumbar herniated nucleus pulposus. The vignettes of patients with cervical stenosis and lumbar spondylolisthesis had 50 percent of the surgeons in agreement.
While there was agreement on which cases need surgery, there was poor agreement on which procedure to perform. When repeating the survey for the second time, only 17 of the 96 recommendations were changed.
Read the abstract for "Surgeons Agree to Disagree on Surgical Options for Degenerative Conditions of the Cervical and Lumbar Spine."
Read other coverage on spine studies:
- Study Examines Medicolegal Suits Associated With Cervical Spine Surgery
- Study Shows Minimally Invasive Spine Decompression Effective for Lumbar Spinal Stenosis
- Study: Rotating Rod Effective for Spin Surgery Technique
Six clinical vignettes were presented to 19 members of the Degenerative Spine Study Group who were asked to recommend treatment. The same vignettes were sent to the same instructors two months later with the instructions to recommend treatment for these patients pretending the patients were close family members.
More than 76 percent of the surgeons agreed on whether or not to recommend surgical intervention for the cases that included lumbar degenerative spondylolisthesis with stenosis, cervical herniated nucleus pulposus, lumbar spondylolisthesis and lumbar herniated nucleus pulposus. The vignettes of patients with cervical stenosis and lumbar spondylolisthesis had 50 percent of the surgeons in agreement.
While there was agreement on which cases need surgery, there was poor agreement on which procedure to perform. When repeating the survey for the second time, only 17 of the 96 recommendations were changed.
Read the abstract for "Surgeons Agree to Disagree on Surgical Options for Degenerative Conditions of the Cervical and Lumbar Spine."
Read other coverage on spine studies:
- Study Examines Medicolegal Suits Associated With Cervical Spine Surgery
- Study Shows Minimally Invasive Spine Decompression Effective for Lumbar Spinal Stenosis
- Study: Rotating Rod Effective for Spin Surgery Technique