Post-operative lumbar spine pain syndrome

  Lumbar disc herniation is currently treated in many different ways, the earliest of which is still surgery. However, each treatment method cannot be said to completely replace the other methods and dominate, it is just a matter of how successful they are. What I would like to introduce today is the treatment of postoperative lumbar pain syndrome.  The patient was a 56-year-old female, a retired employee of Chuanwei factory, admitted to the hospital with recurrent lumbar and left lower limb pain, which radiated from the lumbar region to the lateral left thigh and lateral left calf to the outer ankle without numbness, and could be aggravated by exertion and coughing. Examination: claudication, posterior extension of lumbar spine at 5° could produce radiating pain in the right lower extremity. pressure pain in L4/5, L5/S1 interspinous and right paraspinous (++) and produced radiating pain in the right lower extremity, pressure pain in L3 transverse process bilaterally (++), pressure pain at the right superior gluteal nerve (++), straight leg raising test right 60° (+), strengthening test (+). The right thumb dorsiflexion and plantarflexion muscle strength was grade 4, and the right thumb dorsiflexion and plantarflexion muscle strength was grade 5. The skin pain sensation of both lower limbs was not significantly changed, bilateral Achilles tendon reflex (++). CT showed L4/5 disc herniation, MRI showed L3/4 bulge, L4/5 disc herniation on the right side with calcification.  Diagnosis: lumbar disc herniation Treatment: C-arm guided lateral saphenous injection (ESI) + O3 ablation of L4/5 and L5/S1 discs was performed in our hospital, after which claudication disappeared and pain was significantly reduced. The patient pursued higher treatment effect and did not trust our hospital’s minimally invasive treatment, plus there was calcification in the L5/S1 disc. The patient contacted our department 2 months after the surgery, saying that he had been bedridden after the minimally invasive surgery, and now his pain had increased and he could not get out of bed. The patient spent 15,000 RMB and was very dissatisfied, so he came to our department for hospitalization. After admission, we explained to the patient and used scientific theories to eliminate the patient’s dissatisfaction with the effect of treatment in other hospitals, while encouraging the patient to continue active treatment. On examination after admission: symptoms were significantly worse than before, straight leg raising test 30° on the right (+), strengthening (+), bilateral L3 transverse process pressure pain (+++), lumbar interspinous pressure pain (+), bilateral sacroiliac joint pressure pain (+++), pressure pain at the right superior gluteal nerve (+++), no inferior numbness and muscle strength weakening.  Diagnosis after admission: lumbar postoperative pain syndrome (FBSS) Treatment: considering possible combined nerve root adhesions, ESI+O3+internal and external intervertebral orifice needle knife release was performed, after treatment, the patient’s pain was significantly reduced, the right side of the straight leg raising test was 70°(+), and he was able to get out of bed; one week later, ESI+ was performed again to summarize: most lumbar disc herniations contain intra-vertebral canal and extra-vertebral canal conditions, and their treatment There is no single method that can cure all conditions, and various methods can complement each other. The advantages of surgery are: wide therapeutic indications. The disadvantages are: it is more invasive, has more complications, the rate of excellent efficacy is not as high as minimally invasive, and it is expensive and slow to recover. The combination of intra- and extra-oral needle knife release combined with ESI+O3+peripheral pain point block has better efficacy for FBSS, which can form a complementary approach, and is undoubtedly a non-negligible remedy for the emergence of FBSS in lumbar disc herniation surgery that is not suitable for minimally invasive surgery.