RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: To observe the clinical effect of a combination of traditional Chinese and western medicine (sacral canal therapy combined with compound Fufang Wulingzhi Tangjiang) in the treatment of residual root pain after lumbar surgery. PATIENTS AND METHODS: From January 2019 to December 2020, 538 patients with residual root pain due to lumbar degenerative diseases were treated in our hospital [open decompression discectomy (ODD), Percutaneous Endoscopic Lumbar Discectomy (PELD) or Transforminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion (TLIF)]. They were randomly divided into control group (basic treatment + celecoxib), observation group 1 (basic treatment + compound Fufang Wulingzhi Tangjiang), observation group 2 (basic treatment + sacral canal therapy) and observation group 3 (basic treatment + sacral canal therapy + Fufang Wulingzhi Tangjiang). Follow-up 3-12 months. The therapeutic effect, VAS score, JOA score, treatment cost, complications, serum interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-1 (IL-1) and tumor necrosis factor-a (TNF-α) were recorded and compared before treatment, 1 week after treatment, 2 weeks after treatment, 1 month after treatment, and the last follow-up. RESULTS: The treatment effect, VAS score, JOA, and treatment cost in the observation group were better than those in the control group (p < 0.05). There were significant differences in the above-mentioned indexes between the observation group 3 and the control group, observation group 1, and observation group 2 (p < 0 01). Inflammatory factors (IL-6, IL1, TNF-α) in the observation group were lower than those in the control group (p < 0 05). Inflammatory factors in observation group 3 were significantly lower than those in the control group, observation group 1, and observation group 2 (p < 0 01). CONCLUSIONS: Sacral canal injection combined with Fufang Wulingzhi Tangjiang can be effective in the treatment of postoperative root pain of lumbar degenerative diseases, which can reduce inflammatory factors such as IL-6, IL-1ß and TNF-α. It has the advantages of quick effect, short treatment time, low cost, high safety, in line with the concept of ERAS, easily accepted by patients and their families, and worthy of further popularizing and applying in clinic.