Abstract: Low back pain occurs in almost 80% of the adults in some point in time in their life and herniation of the lumbar intervertebral disc is one of the leading causes for it. Discectomy by fenestration method is an accepted procedure for the treatment of herniated lumbar disc. The functional and neurological recovery following this procedure was analysed in this study. Out of the 20 patients who were operated for single level lumbar disc herniation by fenestration discectomy between September 2014 and March 2017, only 19 patients were available for follow up. Patients were followed up for a period of 1 year. The post-operative outcome was analysed using the Prolo economic and functional scoring system. The outcome was analysed with age, sex, employment, duration of unemployment and neurological deficits as variables. The change of Prolo scale between pre-operative and post-operative status was also analysed.
The functional outcome showed good results in 68.44% of cases proving that the surgical results were good following fenestration and discectomy. Good neurological recovery was noted, but neurological status had no influence over the functional recovery of the patients. Better outcome was noted in females and patients below the age of 30 years as well as in patients doing light work. The duration of symptoms had no influence on the outcome of the surgery. This study proves that discectomy by fenestration method is a good surgical procedure for treatment of lumbar disc heniation.
