Investigation of Preoperative Factors Influencing the Outcome of Motor Deficits in Patients Undergoing Lumbar Microdiskectomy

Background: Motor deficits owing to neural compression caused by lumbar disc herniation are a common problem encountered in spine surgery. Microdiscectomy is considered the preferred procedure for the treatment of limb paresis related to a herniated disc. Nevertheless, there is a restricted number of clinical studies in the literature investigating the role of preoperative factors that could influence the postoperative outcome in these patients. Aim: To investigate the prognostic factors determining the outcome in patients with lower limb paresis caused by a herniated lumbar disc subjected to microdiscektomy. Study type: Primary clinical research, observational prognostic study. Materials: Patients suffering from a motor deficit due to lumbar disc herniation to undergo lumbar microdiscectomy in three neurosurgical departments. Protocol: Prospective multicenter study. This research will discover the prognostic value of two primary and five secondary preoperative factors. Primary factors: a) the severity of paresis, b) the duration of paresis. Secondary factors: a) age, b) body mass index, c) diabetes mellitus, d) anatomic location of the herniated disc, e) morphology of the herniated disc. Outcomes: The key evaluation criterion is the muscle strength of the most severely affected lower limb muscle according to the six-point (0-5) Medical Research Counsil (MRC) Scale for Muscle Strength. After the comparison between the postoperative and preoperative muscle strength, the outcome of paresis will be recorded as: a) full recovery, b) partial recovery or c) no recovery. Sample size: Forty (40) patients.