High Preoperative Expectations May Not Need to be Feared : Spine
valuating correlations between patients’ preoperative expectations for pain relief and subsequent functional and satisfaction outcomes following primary anterior cervical surgery. Understanding correlations between expectations and outcomes may help identify patients most likely to benefit from surgery. Materials and Methods. Patients who underwent 1–2-level primary anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) or cervical disc arthroplasty for degenerative disease between 2016 and 2021 were included. All patients had 12-month Neck Disability Index (NDI) data. Preoperative expectations for pain relief were collected at the initial clinic visit using 5-point Likert scales. Preoperative and 12-month postoperative satisfaction were recorded using 7-point Likert scales. Covariates include age, sex, procedure type, smoking status, opioid use, worker’s compensation/litigation, body mass index, and indication (radiculopathy vs. myelopathy). Linear regression models were constructed to assess
