frequency of instrumentation in lumbar spinal stenosis and lumbar disc herniation

background & aim: lumbosacral pain is extremely common as age increases. spinal instrumentation is sometimes recommended for lumbar canal stenosis and disk herniation surgery. this study aimed at studying the frequency of instrumentation in patients referring to our center. methods & materials/patients: this retrospective cross-sectional study included 1200 patients with low back and/or radicular pain who had referred to the shahid beheshti and ayatallah roohani hospitals from 2013 to 2014 in babol city. data were analyzed by t-test and chisquare using spss (version 20). results: in this study, 150 of 1200 patients needed surgery for lumbar canal stenosis and/or disk herniation (mean age of 42.21 ± 11.41 years old, ranging from 26-69). of all patients, 76 were men (50.7%) and 74 women (49.3%). l4-l5 was the most involved level. there was a significant relationship between pathology and gender (p<001). at some levels, either men or women were involved. moreover, 55 patients (36.7%) underwent surgery with instrumentation and 95 patients (63.3%) without instrumentation. complete improvement was reported in 102 patients (68%). no significant relationship was observed between the degree of improvement and surgery technique and gender (p=0.78, p=0.72). conclusion: most patients (63.3%) underwent surgery without instrumentation and about one third needed fixation during surgery.