Sometimes spine surgery that is performed to reduce or eliminate chronic pain fails to achieve all of the desired outcomes. After a normal healing period, if pain persists, this is known as post-laminectomy syndrome. Post-laminectomy syndrome is caused by many different factors, the most possible cause occurring when the spinal nerve root does not recover after the surgery, despite the surgeon’s best efforts. Other causes include structural changes in the spine, scar formation around the nerve root, ligament instability, or a new disc herniation. There are many interventional pain procedures such as transforaminal epidural steroid injections, facet joint injections, radiofrequency ablation, and spinal cord stimulation that may help reduce chronic pain due to post-laminectomy syndrome.
