Trial reportAnnals of the rheumatic diseases2010
Four-year follow-up of surgical versus non-surgical therapy for chronic low back pain.
Trial report in Annals of the rheumatic diseases, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT06169488 (The Lumbar Interbody Fusion vs. Multidisciplinary Rehabilitation), which is not on this map. Cited by 51 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
The Lumbar Interbody Fusion vs. Multidisciplinary Rehabilitation (LIFEHAB) Trial
Who cites it
51 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 128 citations in OpenAlex.
- Comparison between spinal fusion vs. nonoperative treatment for lumbar degenerative pathology: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Neurosurgical review · 2025Pooled it
- Effectiveness and safety of ultrasound-guided needle-knife therapy for patients with spinal pain disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Common elective orthopaedic procedures and their clinical effectiveness: umbrella review of level 1 evidence.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2021Pooled it
- Long-term outcomes following intraosseous basivertebral nerve ablation for the treatment of chronic low back pain: 5-year treatment arm results from a prospective randomized double-blind sham-controlled multi-center study.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2020Trial
- Evaluating rehabilitation following lumbar fusion surgery (REFS): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.Trials · 2015Trial
- Five-year follow-up of total disc replacement compared to fusion: a randomized controlled trial.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2013Trial
- Treatment outcome of chronic low back pain and radiographic lumbar disc degeneration are associated with inflammatory and matrix degrading gene variants: a prospective genetic association study.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2013Trial
- No difference in 9-year outcome in CLBP patients randomized to lumbar fusion versus cognitive intervention and exercises.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2012Trial
- Genetic contribution of catechol-O-methyltransferase variants in treatment outcome of low back pain: a prospective genetic association study.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2012Trial
- Surgery with disc prosthesis versus rehabilitation in patients with low back pain and degenerative disc: two year follow-up of randomised study.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2011Trial
- Evolving Treatment Options for Spinal Pain: Balancing Innovation and Affordability in Regenerative Medicine.Current pain and headache reports · 2026Review
- A multifactorial intervertebral disc degeneration model: Integrating inflammation, structural disruption, biomechanical parameters, and neural sensitization.Bioengineering & translational medicine · 2026Article
- Clinical Insights and Statistical Analysis of Failed Back Surgery Syndrome: A Multicentric Retrospective Review.Asian journal of neurosurgery · 2026Article
- Review
- Article
- Psychophysiologic symptom relief therapy for chronic back pain: hypothesis and trial rationale.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Improvement in predominant back pain following minimally invasive decompression for spinal stenosis.Journal of neurosurgery. Spine · 2023Article
- International Society for the Advancement of Spine Surgery Statement: Restorative Neurostimulation for Chronic Mechanical Low Back Pain Resulting From Neuromuscular Instability.International journal of spine surgery · 2023Article
- Confluent abscesses in autochthonous back muscles after spinal injections : A case report and narrative review of the literature on low back pain and spinal injections.Wiener medizinische Wochenschrift (1946) · 2022Review
- Editorial: Chance Encounters, Overdiagnosis, and Overtreatment.Clinical orthopaedics and related research · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by[Operations].2012
Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesTo compare the long-term effectiveness of surgical and non-surgical treatment in patients with chronic low back pain.
methodsTwo merged randomised clinical trials compared instrumented transpedicular fusion with cognitive intervention and exercises in 124 patients with disc degeneration and at least 1 year of symptoms after or without previous surgery for disc herniation. The main outcome measure was the Oswestry disability index.
resultsAt 4 years 14 (24%) patients randomly assigned to cognitive intervention and exercises had also undergone surgery. 15 (23%) patients assigned fusion had undergone re-surgery. The mean treatment effect for the primary outcome was 1.1; 95% CI -5.9 to 8.2, according to the intention-to-treat analysis and -1.6; 95% CI -8.9 to 5.6 in the as-treated analysis. There was no difference in return to work.
conclusionsLong-term improvement was not better after instrumented transpedicular fusion compared with cognitive intervention and exercises.
Indexed as
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.