Surgery versus Conservative Care for Persistent Sciatica Lasting 3 to 6 Months

Abstract

Background: Low back pain due to lumbar disc prolapse is a common disorder. The treatment of chronic sciatica caused by herniation of a lumbar disk has not been well studied in comparison with acute disk herniation. Patients and Method: In a single-center trial, we randomly assigned 150 patients ?? how many with sciatica that had lasted for 3 to 6 months and lumbar disk Mention the time of the study and groups of patients herniation at the L4–L5 or L5–S1 level in a 1:1 ratio (75 patients in each group) to undergo discectomy or to receive 6 months of standardized non-operative care followed by surgery if needed. The study was conducted for 1 year from 2020 to 2021. Results: The mean score for leg-pain intensity was 7.7 in the surgical group and 8.0 in the nonsurgical group. The primary outcome of the leg-pain intensity score at 6 months was 2.8 in the surgical group and 5.2 in the nonsurgical group Conclusion: Discectomy was superior to nonsurgical care concerning pain intensity at 6 months of follow-up.