The Beneficial Effect of Preoperative Exercise on Postoperative Clinical Outcome, Quality of Life and Return to Work after Microsurgical Resection of Spinal Meningiomas

Objective: While outcomes of surgical treatment for spinal meningiomas are well-described within the literature, factors affecting early return to work as well as long-term health related quality of life remain unclear. Methods: In this retrospective study, patients with spinal meningioma and surgical treatment from two university-level neurosurgical institutions between 2008 and 2021 were analyzed. Time to return to work, physical activities and long-term health related quality of life (assessed by telephone interviews using the EQ-5D-5L health status measure and visual analogue scale (EQ VAS) were analyzed. Results: We identified a total of 196 patients who underwent microsurgical resection of spinal meningioma between January 2008 and December 2021. Of those, 130 patients of working age were included and analyzed. The median follow-up time was 96 months. All included patients returned to work. The median time of return to work was 45 days for the whole cohort. Patients who preoperatively performed physical activity returned to work significantly earlier compared to patients who did not (p < 0.001). Furthermore, younger age (p = 0.033) and absence of obesity (p = 0.023) correlated significantly with earlier return to work. Significant differences were also observed in all 5 EQ-5D-5L dimensions between patients with and without preoperative physical activity. Conclusions: Despite the benign nature of spinal meningioma preoperative physical activity and physiological body weight are associated with favorable postoperative outcome, higher quality of life and early return to work.