Long-term quality of life after posterior cervical foraminotomy for radiculopathy

• Cervical radiculopathy significantly decreases health related quality of life.
• Foraminotomy is a highly effective surgical treatment for cervical radiculopathy.
• Foraminotomy led to improved symptoms and function as well as quality of life.
• Improvements following foraminotomy were stable over 10 years.
• Soft disc and osteophyte pathology were both well-treated with foraminotomy.

ObjectivesCervical radiculopathy may cause symptoms and loss of function that can lead to a significant reduction in health related quality of life (HRQOL). As part of a comprehensive review of long-term outcomes, we examined HRQOL in a large cohort of patients undergoing posterior cervical foraminotomy (FOR) for radiculopathy.Patients and methods338 patients who underwent FOR between 1990 and 2009 participated in a telephone interview designed to measure symptomatic and functional improvements following surgery. We also administered the EQ-5D, a standardized tool for assessing HRQOL. We analyzed this data for associations between patient and treatment characteristics, improvements in symptoms and function, and HRQOL as measured by the EQ-5D.ResultsMean follow-up was 10.0 years. The average EQ-5D at follow-up was 0.81 ± 0.18, and improvements in pain, weakness and function as well as ability to return to work correlated with improved EQ-5D score (p < 0.0001). There was no correlation between length of follow-up and EQ-5D score (p = 0.980). Additionally, there was no difference between mean EQ-5D score for soft disc versus osteophyte pathology (0.84 versus 0.81, p = 0.21).ConclusionThese data provide evidence that FOR for cervical radiculopathy is associated with improved HRQOL at long-term follow-up. The lack of correlation between length of follow-up and HRQOL suggests that FOR is a durable treatment option. Moreover, FOR is associated with improved HRQOL whether radiculopathy is due to soft disc or osteophyte pathology.