Appropriateness of surgery for sciatica: reliability of guidelines from expert panels.

Study Design: Reliability study of guidelines development.

Objective: To compare criteria for low back surgery between two expert panels.

Background: Reliability of expert panels for determining appropriateness of indications for surgical procedures has heretofore received little attention.

Can the decision to operate be judged retrospectively? A study of medical records.

Objective: To examine the precision and completeness of information in medical records for evaluating the appropriateness of operative indications for lumbar disc surgery.

Design: Retrospective review of records.

Setting: University department of neurosurgery, Switzerland.