• Sanna Sinikallio, Timo Aalto, Olavi Airaksinen, Arto Herno, Heikki Kröger, Sakari Savolainen, Veli Turunen, and Heimo Viinamäki.
• Department of Rehabilitation, Kuopio University Hospital, Kupio, Finland. sanna.sinikallio@kuh.fi
• Disabil Rehabil. 2007 Apr 15;29(7):537-44.

PurposeTo study the lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) patients' (n = 98) satisfaction with surgery outcome and associated factors at three months post-operative stage.MethodLSS-related physical functioning and pain were assessed with Oswestry disability index, Stucki questionnaire, Visual Analogue Scale and pain drawings. Depression was assessed with 21-item Beck Depression Inventory. Psychological well-being was assessed with the Life satisfaction scale, Toronto Alexithymia Scale and Sense of Coherence Scale. All questionnaires were administered before and 3 months after surgical treatment of LSS. Satisfaction with surgery outcome was assessed with a separate scale.ResultsConsiderable improvement was evident in all the functional and pain-related variables. Two-thirds (66%) of the patients were at least clearly satisfied with the surgery outcome. Younger age, symptom severity, disability and depression were independently associated with dissatisfaction with surgery outcome.ConclusionThe lack of physical, functional and emotional well-being is associated with the patients' dissatisfaction with the surgery outcome. Patient satisfaction is a valid outcome to be measured in LSS patients undergoing surgery. It is recommended that patients should be provided with realistic pre-operative patient information and that depression be assessed pre-operatively.

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