• Ghassan Skaf, Carmel Bouclaous, Ali Alaraj, and Roukoz Chamoun.
• Division of Neurosurgery, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut 1107-2020, Lebanon. gskaf@aub.edu.lb
• Surg Neurol. 2005 Dec 1;64(6):483-8, discussion 488-9.

BackgroundFailed back surgery syndrome (FBSS) is a condition in which there is failure to improve satisfactorily after back surgery. It is characterized by intractable pain and various degrees of functional disability after lumbar spine surgery. It is estimated that this complication occurs in 5% to 10% of patients after spinal surgeries. The major causes of FBSS are fibrosis and adhesions, spinal instability, recurrent herniated disk, and inadequate decompression. The purpose of this study is to report on the postsurgical outcome after a redo spinal surgery.MethodsWe prospectively studied 50 patients with FBSS. The underlying pathology was identified and all the patients were treated surgically. Redo surgery was targeted at correcting the underlying pathology: removal of recurrent or residual disk, release of adhesions with neural decompression, and fusion with or without instrumentation. The postsurgical outcome was studied using the Oswestry Disability Questionnaire (ODQ).ResultsThe average preoperative ODQ mean score was 80.8; the average postoperative ODQ mean score was 36.6 at 1 month and 24.2 at 1 year. Best scores were obtained at 3 months of follow-up in most cases. Successful outcome (>50% pain relief) could be achieved in 92% of the patients at 1 year.ConclusionThe current study shows that successful management of patients with FBSS could be achieved with proper patient selection, correct preoperative diagnosis, and adequate surgical procedure targeting the underlying pathology.

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