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A Validation of the Tarlov Cyst Quality-of-Life Scale in Patients Surgically Treated for Intrasacral Meningoceles
Frank Feigenbaum1, Susan E Parks1, Debbie A West1
1Feigenbaum Neurosurgery, Dallas, Texas, USA.
Background And Objectives:
Intrasacral meningoceles (IM) are a type of spinal meningeal cyst that can develop within the sacral spinal canal and cause sacral radiculopathy symptoms. The research on IM is sparse, comprised largely of case reviews lacking standardization with validated measures. However, a disease-specific health-related quality-of-life scale has been published for Tarlov cysts to measure symptoms before and after surgical treatment. The purpose of this study was to validate the Tarlov Cyst Quality-of-Life (TCQoL) survey as a disease-specific health-related quality-of-life measure for patients surgically treated for symptomatic IM.
Methods:
Patients surgically treated for IM between 2016 and 2024 were included. Patients completed preoperative surveys within 2 weeks of surgery and postoperative surveys 6 months after surgery. Surveys included the Short-Form 36, the Oswestry Disability Index, a visual analog scale for pain, and the TCQoL scale. Psychometric analyses including construct validity, internal consistency, sensitivity to clinical change, and discriminative validity were performed to validate the TCQoL.
Results:
Our cohort included 81 patients. Discriminative validity was demonstrated by significant improvement in each of the 11 items and the overall scale score from preoperative to postoperative (P < .001 for all comparisons). Cronbach alpha was 0.84 for the scale, suggesting good internal consistency. Concurrent validity was established by correlating scale scores of the TCQoL with the Oswestry Disability Index r(79) = 0.68 (0.54, 0.79), P < .001 and all 8 of the Short-Form 36 subscale scores with correlations ranging from -0.19 (-0.45, -0.03) for mental health to -0.59 (-0.70, -0.40) for physical function. The minimum clinically important difference was 0.6.
Conclusion:
We validated the TCQoL for patients surgically treated for IM. This scale can be used as a disease-specific health-related quality-of-life measure that is sensitive to measure clinical change in this population.
