Profile of the patient with failed back surgery syndrome in the National Institute of Rehabilitation. Comparative analysis]

Failed back surgery syndrome is a complication of spine surgery that leads to chronic pain and disability, often with disastrous emotional consequences to the patient.To compare the profile of patients whose first surgery was performed in our hospital versus a group that underwent first spine surgery in a different centre.Retrospective study with 65 patients; 18 formed group I (first spine surgery performed in our institution), and 47 patients in group II (first surgery performed in another hospital). Background, demographic, clinical features and functional status were compared. In group I the majority of the cases had a previous diagnosis of lumbar stenosis (group I 44.4% vs group II 25.5% p = 0.22), whereas disk herniation was the main diagnosis in group II (group I 22.2% vs group II 61.7% p = 0.001). The main cause of the syndrome in group I was technical error during surgery (61.1%), while in group II this cause represented only 6.3% (p=.001). Among the patients of this latter group, misdiagnosis was highly prevalent (57.4%), against no cases in group I (p=.001). The preoperative functional status between both groups and their recovery in the immediate postoperative period was similar (p = 0.68).This study suggests that the diagnostic and treatment standards are different between healthcare centres, specifically between academic centres vs. private practice.