Prognostic indicators of surgical outcome in painful foot drop: a systematic review and meta-analysis

A meta-analysis of prognostic factors in surgical treatment of foot drop due to lumbar degenerative diseases

“…The meta-analysis conducted by Saeed F et al 8 indicated that earlier surgery (<6 weeks) and younger age (<50 years) were strong predictors of surgical outcome. However, patients with painless foot drop and those underwent lumbar fusion surgery were excluded from this study, which led to a decrease in the number of included studies.…”

“…We adhered to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) and Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (MOOSE) guidelines. 8 Taking PubMed as an example, the specific retrieval strategy is shown as follows ("gait disorders, neurologic" [MeSH Terms] OR ("foot drop" [Title/Abstract] OR "drop foot" [Title/Abstract])) AND ("spondylolysis" [MeSH Terms] OR ("spondylolisthesis" [Title/Abstract] OR "spondylolysis" [Title/Abstract]) OR (("Lumbar" [Title/Abstract] AND "degenerati∗" [Title/Abstract]) OR "LDD" [Title/Abstract] OR "LUMBAR VERTEBRAE" [MeSH Terms] OR "INTERVERTEBRAL DISC DEGENERATION" [MeSH Terms] OR "lumbar spinal stenosis" [Title/Abstract] OR "lumbar disc herniation" [Title/Abstract] OR "SPINAL STENOSIS" [MeSH Terms])). Two evaluators independently screened the literature by adopting the unified inclusion criteria.…”

“…The selected literature must meet the following conditions: 1) Foot drop was assessed by determining muscle strength of the tibialis anterior using a manual muscle test (MMT)and by characterizing it according to the Medical Research Council (MRC) scale. 9 In the present study, foot drop should be clearly defined as tibialis anterior muscle strength of lower than grade 4 by manual muscle testing 8 ; 2) The original data should provide OR value and 95% confidence interval (95%CI) or the OR value and 95%CI can be calculated from the data; 3) The summary results can be expressed by corresponding statistical indicators.…”