Yasir Shehzad, Ashraf Mehmood, Nadeem Akhtar, Mohammad Arif Malik.
Leg pain relief after fenestration and microdiscectomy in patients having sciatica due to lumbar intervertebral disc prolapse.
J Rawal Med Coll Jan ;16(2):123-5.

Background: To assess the relief of leg pain after fenestration and microdiscectomy in patients having sciatica due to lumbar intervertebral disc prolapse. Methods: In this descriptive cross sectional study 100 patients both male and female, undergoing fenestration and microdiscectomy for prolapsed unilateral single level lumbar intervertebral disc, were selected. Leg pain was assessed using visual analogue scale (VAS) before surgery. Postoperative leg pain was assessed using VAS on 3rd postoperative day and 7th postoperative day. Preoperative and postoperative pain scores were noted and compared. Results: Out of total 100 patients 74 were male and 26 were female Age distribution was from 20 to 65 years. Mean age was 38.18± 9.29. The mean decrease in VAS leg pain score was 3.72 points (mean preoperative 7.07 to mean postoperative 3.35 at 3rd postoperative day). The mean decrease in VAS leg pain score was 3.87 points (mean preoperative 7.07 to mean postoperative 3.20 at 7th postoperative day).Majority (92%) reported a decrease in greater than 2 points at both 3rd and 7th postoperative days. Conclusion: In comparison to microdiscectomy, disc excision by fenestration has yielded almost comparable results.

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