Effects of Enhanced Recovery Rehabilitation Surgery Concepts on the Surgical Process, Postoperative Pain, Complications, and Prognosis of Discectomy in Patients with Lumbar Disc Herniation: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of lumbar disc herniation (LDH) disease degree on lumbar discectomy and to explore the relationship between the degree of intervertebral disc disease and postoperative pain score changes. METHODS: We conducted a comprehensive search in China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang Data, PubMed, MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane database, and other databases, obtained all relevant studies as of April 2017, and then followed strict inclusion and exclusion criteria. Standard screening was performed on the retrieved literature. We extract and analyze key data using Review Manager 5.3 software. Pooled effects were calculated by mean difference or odds ratio and 95% confidence interval analysis, depending on data attributes. RESULTS: Various databases were searched for the results of papers from lumbar discectomy since April 2017 to April 2022. Nine papers from 2502 patients were selected. The average overall follow-up was 52 weeks. There were statistically significant reductions in postoperative pain scores and degree of disc disease. There was a significant correlation between the reduction in pain score after discectomy and the degree of disc disease (r = 0.73, 95%CI = 0.01-1.20, p = 0.005). CONCLUSIONS: Decreased disc disease grade is one of the reasons for the lower back pain score after discectomy. Furthermore, region-dependent economic factors must be considered before developing a treatment strategy. Larger, well-defined randomized controlled trials are needed to further confirm these results.