Patient Reported Outcome Measures, Nomenclature & Classifications in Clinical Research of Endoscopic Spine Surgery

Uniform use of nomenclature and classification systems appears logical to anyone attempting to systematically study clinical outcomes with new emerging technology applications in spine surgery. At the introduction of spinal endoscopy into routine clinical practice, today's key opinion leaders introduced nomenclature conducive to the description of their innovations at the time. With endoscopy of the spine becoming more mainstream several authors have pushed classification systems for clinical outcome studies. Others have introduced terminology in hopes of them being adopted to further research and health care policy agendas. These nomenclature and classification systems' practicality in routine clinical practice may be debatable and perhaps be considered by some an academic exercise. However, the need for some common language and categorization of descriptors of painful pathology, confounding factors, and their treatments are accepted by most. This chapter summarizes the literature on nomenclature, terminology, and classification systems relevant to clinical outcome research in spinal endoscopy. It was motivated by the desire to formalize its clinical outcome research, bring it up to par with traditional translaminar spine surgery techniques, and, ultimately, incorporate it into clinical treatment and coverage guidelines formulated by spine societies and payors.

Keywords: Classification, Clinical outcome research, Nomenclature, Spinal endoscopy, Terminology