Preoperative conservative treatment is insufficiently described in clinical trials of lumbar fusion: a scoping review

ConclusionAlthough roughly two-thirds of trials reported that  patients failed conservative care prior to receiving a lumbar fusion, few studies named the conservative intervention provided and no studies provided any details regarding dosing or recency of care. This lack of information creates ambiguity in the surgical decision-making process, setting the as sumption that all patients received adequate conservative care prior to surgery. Details about pre-surgical conservative care should be disclosed to allow for appropriate clinical application, decision-making, and interpretation of treatment effects.
Source: European Spine Journal - Category: Orthopaedics Source Type: research