Local Anesthesia and Conscious Sedation Does Not Affect Patient's Mood and Anxiety Levels during Percutaneous Endoscopic Lumbar Diskectomy: A Prospective Study

Background and Study Aims Undergoing a surgical procedure can be very stressful for patients and can lead to high anxiety levels during both the preoperative and the postoperative period. Levels of anxiety and fear may depend on multiple factors including the type of anesthesia to be used. The objective of this study is to evaluate whether patient's awareness of the surgical environment in the operating room under local anesthesia and conscious sedation (LACS) affects their mood and anxiety levels. Methods We performed a prospective study for a series of consecutive patients who underwent transforaminal percutaneous endoscopic lumbar diskectomy (PELD) for the treatment of lumbar disk herniation. The patients completed Profile of Mood States (POMS) and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) forms in the preoperative period and in the early postoperative period. We divided the patients into two groups according to the type of anesthesia applied during surgery: LACS and general anesthesia (GA) groups. We compared the preoperative and postoperative POMS and STAI scores between groups and the change of these scores between the preoperative and postoperative periods in each group. Results In this study, we included 30 patients who underwent PELD between May and December 2019 and met the inclusion criteria. The GA group consisted of 16 patients and the LACS group consisted of 14 patients. In each group, POMS and STAI scores decreased in the early postoperative period compared with the preoperative period. We found no significant difference in percentage of POMS and STAI TX-1 score changes between the LACS and GA groups. Conclusion The results of our study show that patients' awareness of the surgical environment in the operating room under LACS does not significantly affect their mood and anxiety levels and patients do not seem to endure increased emotional stress during the PELD operation, as compared with PELD operation under GA.