Only 10 percent of orthopedic surgeons and neurosurgeons follow professional guidelines recommending routine psychological screenings of patients about to undergo major surgery for severe back and leg pain, which may pose a risk to the patients' surgical recovery, according to a study published in the Journal of Spinal Disorders and Techniques.
For the survey, conducted from December 2010 to January 2011, researchers emailed a questionnaire to 340 licensed spine surgeons across the country. Approximately 110 of the surgeons responded.
The lack of pre-surgical psychological screening assessments may affect patient recovery as previous reports have tied bouts of depression to longer recuperations, delayed returns to work, more post-surgical complications and failure to comply with medication schedules leaving the hospital.
The study also found that experienced spine surgeons were more likely to use the assessment tools than those with less than 15 years of experience in the field.
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