Factors of lumbosacral radiculopathy chronicity

Abstract

Assessment of chronic factors of acute lumbosacral radiculopathy is an urgent problem due to the disease impact on the quality of life of patients, possible loss of work capacity and disability. The aim of the work is to identify chronicity factors of acute compressive lumbosacral radiculopathy depending on the severity of degenerative-dystrophic changes in the spine and pathomorphological changes in the zone of disc-radicular conflict based on complex clinical-neurological, neuro-orthopedic, neuroimaging, neurophysiological and statistical methods of examination. Materials and methods. 100 patients with acute lumbosacral radiculopathy were examined. The patients were divided into two groups: 45 patients with radiculopathy and both discogenic pathology and stenotic process in the spinal canal and/or lateral openings, and 55 patients with radiculopathy developed secondary to a pathology between the vertebral disc at the level of one vertebromotor segment. All the patients underwent neurological, neuroorthopedic, neurophysiological examinations. The study was conducted in two stages – 3–7 days and one months after the disease onset. Results. On the basis of comprehensive clinical, neuroimaging, neurophysiological examinations and statistical processing of the obtained data, factors affecting the chronicity of acute compressive lumbosacral radiculopathy were identified: age (rs = 0.25, P = 0.012), sex (rs = 0.25, P = 0.012), pain syndrome severity according to the VAS (rs = 0.25, P = 0.011), the presence of a neuropathic component of pain according to the PainDETECT questionnaire (rs = 0.74, P < 0.001), biomechanical disorders of the spine during the Schober test (rs = -0.41, P < 0.001), lateroflexion (rs = -0.30, P = 0.003), extension (rs = 0.28, p = 0.004), damage to Aβ fibers (rs = -0.36, P = 0.009), Aδ-fibers (rs = -0.38, P = 0.006), C-fibers (rs = -0.37, P = 0.008), allodynia (rs = 0.38, P < 0.001), hyperalgesia (rs = -0.24, p = 0.014), muscular-tonic syndrome index (rs = 0.26, p = 0.008), the presence of lumbar canal stenosis (rs = 0.42, P < 0.001), spondyloarthrosis (rs = 0.22, P = 0.028), spondylolisthesis (rs = 0.20, P = 0.047). Conclusions. The conducted study has revealed the main factors contributing to the development of acute lumbosacral radiculopathy chronicity. The presence of a neuropathic component of pain in the mechanism of pain syndrome development in the acute period of the disease and the involvement of C-fibers in the pathological process in the late stages of the disease are among the important markers contributing to the disease prolongation. Assessment of the factors that determine the chronicity of the course in the acute period of the disease allows to prescribe complex differential therapy at the early stage of the disease.