2025 Volume 16 Issue 6 Pages 932-938
Introduction: The treatment of patients with lumbar spinal canal stenosis (LSCS) is mainly divided into conservative and surgical treatments, but conservative treatment, including drug therapy, is the first choice. It is expected that the dependence of LSCS patients who have undergone surgical treatment on conservative treatment will decrease, and the use of drugs will decrease. The purpose of this study is to examine how surgical treatment affects drug therapy in LSCS patients and to identify the factors associated with an increase in the use of drugs after surgery.
Materials: The subjects were 142 patients (84 men and 58 women, average age 70.1 years) aged 40 years or older who underwent lumbar surgery for LSCS at our hospital between April 2020 and March 2021. We retrospectively examined information from before and 6 months and 1 year after surgery, and evaluated patient background, patient-reported questionnaires including JOABPEQ, and postoperative prescription drugs.
Results: Lumbar surgery for LSCS patients overall significantly reduced the number of LSCS medications, but the number of medications increased in approximately 15% of patients. Poor postoperative outcomes for walking ability and social life in JOABPEQ were significantly associated with an increase in the number of LSCS medications after surgery.
Conclusion: Lumbar surgery for LSCS patients reduced the number of LSCS medications, but poor postoperative outcomes for walking ability and social life were potentially involved in the increase of the number of medications.
