Duration of Symptoms Does Not Affect Clinical Outcome After Lumbar Arthrodesis

STUDY DESIGN Retrospective cohort study at a single institution. OBJECTIVE To examine the effect of symptom duration on clinical outcomes after posterolateral lumbar fusion. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA Nonoperative measures are generally exhausted before patients are indicated for surgical intervention, leaving patients with their symptomatology for varying lengths of time. It is unclear at what point in time surgical intervention may become less efficacious at alleviating preoperative symptoms. MATERIALS AND METHODS Consecutive patients who underwent primary elective open posterior lumbar spinal fusion at a single academic institution were included. Patient and operative characteristics were compared between symptom duration groups (group 1