Table 1 Table of selected articles

Berger [10]

Retrospective

1,000 workmen’s compensation patients/mean follow-up 51 months

Clinical outcome assessment measured on independent neurological and orthopedic examination vs disability score (PS)^a

Influence of psychosocial factors and chronic pain. Sample selection bias?

Blount [42]

Review

Revision of 27 studies on spinal fusion published from 1990 to 2000

Reporting the most validated outcome measures and proposing a multi-dimensional set for spinal fusion outcome

Prolo economic score (Schnee) is recommended for return-to-work assessment. Prolo functional score is not recommended for disability assessment

Brantigan [51]

Prospective

221 patients treated with PLIF^b and pedicle screw fixation (I/F cage)/2 years follow-up

Testing the safety and efficacy of an interbody fusion device

Different version of PS (20 items instead of 10)

Porchet [11]

Cohort Study

394 consecutive patients with sciatica/1 year follow-up

Association between clinical examination (PS, VAS^c, RMDQ^d, SF-36^e) and radiological assessment (Modic)

PS is used for assessment of LBP^f (not for surgical outcome).

Schnee [43]

Retrospective

52 patients treated with PLIF and pedicle screw fixation for spondylolisthesis/mean follow-up 18.6 months

Efficacy of the technique measured as fusion rate and variation of PS scoring

Different version of PS (adaptation for patient)

Voorhies [13]

Prospective

110 patients operated for first decompression of lumbar root/mean follow-up 12 months

Identifying tools and risk factors to propose a predictive model of clinical success (6 measures set)

Analysis of prognostic factors and psychometric properties of PS. Statistical evidence of responsiveness to change

Woertgen [23]

Prospective

121 lumbar herniated disc patients/1 year follow-up

Different predictive factors of different scores (LBOS^g, PS, pain grading scale)

Similar results on LBOS and PS, but no statistical analysis of psychometric properties