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Dextrose injections for failed back surgery syndrome: a consecutive case series

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Abstract

Purpose

Patients with chronic low back pain, who do not respond to conservative treatment methods, generally undergo surgical revision operations, and sometimes an undesirable condition called failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS) may be inevitable. Hereby, dextrose is one of the regenerative methods that has gained popularity in the treatment of many musculoskeletal problems, and we aimed to present and evaluate the outcomes of 5% dextrose for the treatment of FBSS.

Methods

It has been designed as a consecutive case series. A total of 79 patients with FBSS, who had minimum 6 months of symptoms and did not respond to 3 months of conservative methods between May 2014 and March 2016, participated in the study. Prolotherapy injections were applied in posterior and lateral approaches. Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) were used for the pre- and post-treatment evaluations. Patient satisfaction was assessed with using a 5-point Likert scale by phone contacting.

Results

There was statistically significant difference between repeated VAS and ODI measurements.

Conclusions

These results may be the first step giving a lead to an undiscovered field. This treatment method should be kept in mind for FBSS patients before giving a decision of revision surgery.

Graphical abstract

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Acknowledgements

We all thank Michael Yelland, Associate Professor, MD, and John Lyftogt, MD, for their respected contributions to the designation of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Gulhane Training and Research Hospital, Traditional and Complementary Medicine Practice Center, University of Health Sciences, Ankara, Turkey

    İlker Solmaz

  2. Orthopaedics and Traumatology Clinics, Tokat State Hospital, Tokat, Turkey

    Serkan Akpancar & Deniz Gül

  3. Gulhane Training and Research Hospital, Department of Sports Medicine, University of Health Sciences, Ankara, Turkey

    Aydan Örsçelik & Özlem Yener-Karasimav

Authors
  1. İlker Solmaz
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  2. Serkan Akpancar
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  3. Aydan Örsçelik
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  5. Deniz Gül
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Özlem Yener-Karasimav.

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İlker Solmaz, Serkan Akpancar, Aydan Örsçelik, Özlem Yener-Karasimav and Deniz Gül declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Solmaz, İ., Akpancar, S., Örsçelik, A. et al. Dextrose injections for failed back surgery syndrome: a consecutive case series. Eur Spine J 28, 1610–1617 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00586-019-06011-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00586-019-06011-3

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