The majority of studies investigating the outcome of lumbar decompression surgery have been retrospective in nature and have not used validated measures of outcome. They have rarely gathered any information regarding patient rated expectations of surgery and measures of satisfaction with surgery. The aim of this study was to prospectively investigate the short and long term outcome of lumbar decompression surgery in terms of function, disability, general health and psychological well being and to examine patient expectations of surgery and short and long term satisfaction with the outcome of decompressive surgery.

Eighty-four patients undergoing lumbar spinal stenosis surgery were recruited into this study. Patients were assessed using validated measures of outcome pre-operatively, and at six weeks, six months and one year postoperatively. On recruitment into the study patients were also asked to rate their expectations of improvement in pain, general health, function etc. In addition at each review stage patients were asked to rate their satisfaction in improvement of these key outcome measures.

A significant reduction in pain (p< 0.001) was observed at the six week post-operative stage, this did not change at the subsequent assessment stages. Only some of the SF~36 categories were sensitive to change. The sub-categories that were sensitive to change were; physical function (p< 0.05); bodily pain (p< 0.001); and social function (p< 0.05). Improvements were observed in these categories at the six week and six month reviews. A gradual reduction in the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) was observed with time, with changes principally being observed between the six week and six month review, and six week and one year review stages (p< 0.05). Minimal changes were observed in the psychological assessments with time. The outcome of surgery could not be predicted reliably from psychological, functional or pain measures.

The results also demonstrated that patients had very high expectations of recovery particularly in terms of pain and function and that patients were confident of achieving this recovery (76.8%) confident of a good result. Levels of satisfaction however, varied considerably. 41% of subjects were 50% satisfied with the outcome, whilst 30% were dissatisfied. Most patients felt that they had made the right decision to have surgery although the surgery had only achieved 43.4% ± 37.8 of the outcome they had expected.

In conclusion, lumbar decompression surgery leads to a reduction in pain and some improvements in function. Examination of patient’s expectations of and satisfaction with surgery revealed that frequently patients had unrealistic expectations of their surgery and as a consequence tended to have lower levels of satisfaction.