Factors Affecting Early and 1-Year Motor Recovery Following Lumbar Microdiscectomy in Patients with Lumbar Disc Herniation: A Prospective Cohort Review

STUDY DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. PURPOSE: The study was aimed at evaluating clinicoradiological factors affecting recovery of neurological deficits in cases of lumbar disc herniation (LDH) treated by lumbar microdiscectomy. OVERVIEW OF LITERATURE: The majority of the available literature on neurological recovery following neurodeficit is limited to retrospective series. The literature is currently limited regarding variables that can help predict the recovery of neurodeficits following LDH. METHODS: A prospective analysis was performed on 70 consecutive patients who underwent lumbar microdiscectomy (L1–2 to L5–S1) owing to neurological deficits due to LDH. Patients with motor power ≤3/5 in L2–S1 myotomes were considered for analysis. Follow-up was performed at 2, 6, and 12 months to note recovery of motor deficits. Clinicoradiological parameters were compared between the recovered and nonrecovered groups. RESULTS: A total of 65 patients were available at the final follow-up: 41 (63%) had completely recovered by 2 months; four showed delayed recovery at the 6-month follow-up; and 20 (30.7%) showed no recovery at 1 year. Clinicoradiological factors, including diabetes, complete initial deficit, areflexia, multilevel disc prolapse, longer duration since initial symptoms, and ≥2 previous symptomatic episodes were associated with a significant risk of poorer recovery (p<0.05 for all). Age, sex, occupation, smoking, level/type or location of disc herniation, primary canal stenosis, disc fragment dimensions, precipitating factors, bladder involvement, bilaterality of symptoms, and the presence or absence of anal reflex did not affect neurological recovery (p>0.05 for all). Diabetes mellitus (p=0.033) and complete initial motor deficit (p=0.028) were significantly associated with delayed recovery in the multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS: The overall neurological recovery rate in our study was 69%. Diabetes mellitus (p=0.033) and complete initial motor deficit were associated with delayed motor recovery.