Objective:

To investigate the clinical effect of mouse nerve growth factor (mNGF) and methylcobalamin (MeCbl) for the treatment of lumbar disk herniation (LDH) with foot drop.

Methods:

A total of 46 patients suffering from LDH with foot drop who underwent transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) surgery in our department from January 2015 to December 2017 were retrospectively analyzed. We divided these patients into two groups according to the different postoperative treatment which independently selected by patients after signing informed consent form: one group of 25 patients was treated with MeCbl alone (Group MeCbl), the other group of 21 patients was treated with a combination of mNGF and MeCbl (Group MeCbl+mNGF). Patient demographics, the visual analogue scale (VAS) scores, sensory and muscular strength improvement statistics at 1 week, 4 weeks, 12 weeks, and 12 months postoperatively were recorded. Motor/sensory deficits, sciatica and overall neurological outcome after treatment of MeCbl alone and combination of mNGF and MeCbl were retrospectively analyzed.

Results:

The follow-up ranged between 12 and 42 months (mean 20.8 months). There were no significant differences between these two groups of patients with respect to sex ratio, age, smoking, diabetes, disease course, section of protruding disc(s), muscular strength of foot dorsiflexion or preoperative visual analogue scale (VAS) score (P > 0.05). The VAS scores of Group MeCbl+mNGF were significantly lower than Group MeCbl at 1 week, 4 weeks, 12 weeks, and 12 months postoperatively (4.32 ± 0.75 vs 5.25 ± 0.79,2.65 ± 0.48 vs 3.42 ± 0.52, 1.72 ± 0.36 vs 2.45 ± 0.39, 1.12 ± 0.22 vs 1.52 ± 0.24, P < 0.05). The effective rates of sensory improvement were significantly higher in Group MeCbl+mNGF compared with Group MeCbl at 12-week/12-month follow-up time point (90.48% vs 52.00%,95.24% vs 68.00%, P < 0.05). The effective rate of muscular strength improvement of the two groups did not differ significantly at 1 week after surgery but exhibited statistically significant differences at subsequent time points (61.90% vs 32.00%, 76.19% vs 44.00%, 80.95% vs 48.00%, P < 0.05).

Conclusions:

Application of mNGF had clinical effects on promoting the recovery of neurological function in patients suffering from LDH with foot drop.