Clinical outcomes after lumbar spine microdiscectomy: a 5-year follow-up prospective study in 100 patients

To evaluate the effect of lumbar microdiscectomy (LM) in pain, disability and quality of life in a 5-year period and to identify potential demographic and clinical risk factors. One hundred patients who underwent LM by the same surgeon participated in this prospective study. Clinical assessment was made with validated questionnaires preoperatively and up to 5 years postoperatively. Subsequently, associations between clinical outcomes and demographic data were recorded. In every assessment questionnaire, there was a significant improvement in the first postoperative month, which lasted up to 1 year post-discectomy. After that, improvement was statistically significant (p