CRD summary The aim was to assess the cost-effectiveness of spinal cord stimulation compared with conventional medical management or reoperation, for patients with failed back surgery syndrome. The authors concluded that spinal cord stimulation was a cost-effective addition to conventional medical management and alternative to reoperation, for these patients. The methods and the reporting of th...

STUDY DESIGN Prospective cohort study. OBJECTIVE We estimated the cost-effectiveness of spinal cord stimulation (SCS) among workers' compensation recipients with failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS). SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA Randomized controlled trial (RCT) evidence suggests that SCS is more effective at 6 months than medical management for patients with FBSS. However, procedure costs are...

BACKGROUND Despite recent developments in implantable neurostimulation devices, the adjustment of stimulation levels to the patient's postural changes has remained a problem so far. OBJECTIVE This study was conducted with the newest rechargeable devices, in order to compare its results with the ones published from conventional systems. STUDY DESIGN It is a prospective study. SETTING In 46...

Failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS) is complex and recurrent chronic pain after spinal surgery. Several important patient and surgery related risk factors play roles in development of FBSS. Inadequate selection of the candidates for the spinal surgeries is one of the most crucial causes. The guidelines suggest that conservative management featuring pharmacologic approaches and rehabilitation sh...

Research in spine surgery has proposed new soft and less invasive techniques. These are the results of our experience with oxygen-ozone therapy, which we could experiment within the Italian National Health System over 3 years. A total of 1,920 patients were admitted on the basis of unselected enrolment because of lumbosciatic pain. Patients were divided into three groups: (A) Patients with dege...

Epiduroscopy is very useful in the treatment of not only low back pain caused by failed back surgery syndrome, epidural scar or herniated disc but also by chronic refractory low back pain which does not respond to interventional conservative treatment including fluoroscopically-directed epidural steroid injections and percutaneous adhesiolysis. Because cauterization using a laser fiber has beco...

Lumbar diskography (LD) is frequently used in the evaluation of patients with degenerative disk disease and diskogenic low back pain. Its safety and diagnostic accuracy are a topic of debate. No study has evaluated the efficacy of LD within the clinically distinct workers' compensation population. Within this setting, the authors wished to determine the effect of undergoing LD before diskogenic...

INTRODUCTION In the last two decades, ozone has emerged as a treatment for low back pain, applied by means of minimally invasive techniques. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study is to assess the effect and safety of ozone therapy applied in the epidural space for chronic pain related to failed back surgery syndrome. METHODS The investigators studied 13 sequential patients of both sexes, between ...

[Purpose] The aim of this study is to compare patients with failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS) with those with non-specific chronic back pain (NSCBP) in terms of pain, depression, and quality of life levels to explain the effects of surgery experience on low-back pain. [Subjects and Methods] A total of 50 patients with FBSS and 51 patients with NSCBP who consecutively applied to the outpatient...