A lumbar disc surgery predictive score card. A retrospective evaluation.

This report assessed the relationship between patient selection and the outcome of lumbar disc surgery. Patient selecting is assessed by means of a predictive scoring technique previously reported. Because of the dynamic and ever-changing status of the lumbar spine with the passage of time, patient selectivity seems to be less critical after 5 years. For the first 5 years, however, the outcome of lumbar disc surgery seems to be directly related to patient selectivity.