Becker’s Spine Review reports on an HSS study published in Spine by general internist and clinical epidemiologist Carol A. Mancuso, MD, FACP and others, showing surgeons more accurately predicted patient-reported outcomes two years after lumbar spine surgery than patients.

Dr. Mancuso and colleagues had 402 patients and their surgeons predict patient-reported surgical outcomes on the HSS Lumbar Spine Surgery Expectations Survey before their procedure and two years post-procedure. The researchers used the results to evaluate how the surgery fulfilled patient expectations on a 1-100 scale, where 100 was the highest.

Patient-reported scores averaged 73, where surgeon-reported scores averaged 57. Researchers then investigated which group had more accurate presurgical expectations. The patients scored .79, which indicated a general level of satisfaction, but surgeons scored 1.01, which indicated a high level of accuracy in estimates. In 73 percent of cases, surgeons either predicted reported outcomes exactly or had patient-reported outcomes surpass their expectations.

Read the full article at Beckersspine.com.

Additional coverage: Consumer.healthday.com, Healio.com/news/orthopedics