Comparing Health-Related Quality of Life Outcomes in Patients Undergoing Either Primary or Revision Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion

Study Design. A retrospective review of prospectively collected data. Objective. Compare health-related quality of life (HRQOL) outcome metrics in patients undergoing primary and revision anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF). Summary of Background Data. ACDF is associated with significant improvements in HRQOL outcome metrics. However, 2.9% of patients per year will develop symptomatic adjacent segment disease and there is a paucity of literature on HRQOL outcomes after revision ACDF. Methods. Patients were identified who underwent either a primary or revision ACDF, and who had both preoperative and a minimum of 1-year postoperative HRQOL outcome data. Pre- and postoperative Short Form 12 Physical Component Score (SF12 PCS), Short Form 12 Mental Component Score (SF12 MCS) Visual Analog Scale for neck pain (VAS-Neck), VAS-Arm, and Neck Disability Index (NDI) scores were compared. Results. A total of 360 patients (299 primary, 61 revision) were identified. Significant improvement in SF12 PCS, NDI, VAS-Neck, and VAS-Arm was seen in both groups; however, only a significant improvement in SF12 MCS was seen in the primary group. When comparing the results of a primary versus a revision surgery, the SF12 PCS score was the only outcome with a significantly different net improvement in the primary group (7.23 ± 9.72) compared to the revision group (2.9 ± 11.07; P = 0.006) despite similar baseline SF12 PCS scores. The improvement in each of the other reported HRQOL outcomes did not significantly vary between surgical groups. Conclusion. A revision ACDF for cervical radiculopathy or myelopathy leads to a significant improvement in the HRQOL outcome, and with the exception of the SF12 PCS, these results are similar to those of patients undergoing a primary ACDF. Level of Evidence: 2