Study design:

Retrospective analysis of prospectively collected multicenter observational data.

Objective:

To examine the preoperative factors affecting postoperative satisfaction following posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) and microendoscopic muscle-preserving interlaminar decompression (ME-MILD) in patients with degenerative lumbar spondylolisthesis (DLS).

Summary of background data:

The technique involved in DLS surgery may either be decompression-alone or decompression-fixation. Poor performance may occur after either of these surgical treatments. We hypothesized that evaluating the correlation between preoperative quality of life and postoperative performance would aid in determining the optimal procedure.

Methods:

This study included 138 patients who underwent surgery for 1-level mild DLS. We performed PLIF for 79 patients and ME-MILD for 59 patients. When the satisfaction subscale of the Zurich Claudication Questionnaire exceeded 2 points, postoperative satisfaction was considered poor. The clinical characteristics were investigated. Responses to preoperative health-related quality of life questionnaires, such as the Japanese Orthopedic Association Back Pain Evaluation Questionnaire (JOABPEQ), short form-36 health survey (SF-36), and visual analog scale, were compared between the satisfied and unsatisfied groups.

Results:

In the PLIF group, no endogenous factors influenced postoperative satisfaction. The ME-MILD cohort’s satisfied and unsatisfied patients differed significantly in terms of preoperative lumbar spine dysfunction (P<0.001) items of the JOABPEQ, role physical (P=0.03), and role emotional (P=0.03) items of the SF-36. A strong correlation (r=-0.609 P=0.015) was found between preoperative lumbar spine dysfunction and postoperative satisfaction.

Conclusions:

In the ME-MILD group, preoperative lumbar spine function was correlated with postoperative satisfaction. Decompression alone may be ineffective in cases with decreased lumbar spine function prior to surgery. The degree of low back pain on movement should be considered before selecting the surgical method.