Abstract
Introduction of new surgical intervention need assessment of the true results by eliminating cognitive dissonance and the placebo effect. Significant time must elapse since the procedure to derive conclusions. With the initial gratifying results of Endoscopic Foraminoplasty a retrospective analysis of the data was performed to identify if the outcome was accurate and not a placebo effect.
Early postoperative Data (6 weeks and 6 months) derived from questionnaires on 91 patients with Endoscopic Foraminoplasty (April 1997 and November 1998), which included the Oswestry Disability Scale and a Visual Analogue Pain Scale was compared with the data at 2 years (late). A t-test was used to assess the difference between the Oswestry Disability scores from the two questionnaires and a Wilcoxon Signed Rank test for the Visual Analogue Pain Scale.
No significant difference between the Visual Analogue Pain Scores at 6 weeks to 6 months and 2 years post-operation was noted. There was however, a marginal improvement (p= 0.05) in Oswestry Index over two years period.
The initial outcome of Endoscopic Laser Foraminoplasty was sustained or improved at the end of two years and was not a placebo effect.
The abstracts were prepared by Dr C Pither. Correspondence should be addressed to him at the British Orthopaedic Association, Royal College of Surgeons, 35–43 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2A 3PN
