Upsala journal of medical sciences
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Pain drawings predict outcome of surgical treatment for degenerative disc disease in the cervical spine.
Pain drawings have been frequently used in the preoperative evaluation of spine patients. For lumbar conditions comprehensive research has established both the reliability and predictive value, but for the cervical spine most of this knowledge is lacking. The aims of this study were to validate pain drawings for the cervical spine, and to investigate the predictive value for treatment outcome of four different evaluation methods. ⋯ Pain drawings were a reliable tool to interpret patients' pain prior to cervical spine surgery and were also to some extent predictive for treatment outcome.