The relationship between surgical outcome and MMPI profiles in chronic pain patients

Administered the MMPI as part of a comprehensive pain evaluation to 44 patients who were receiving surgery for low back pain. Surgical outcomes then were determined after 6 to 18 months, and the patients were grouped as surgery success (22) or surgery failures (22). MMPI profiles were examined for each group, and while there was a significant difference on the Hs scale, no other mean scores were discriminative. In contrast, when patients were divided into subgroups based upon MMPI profile configurations, a strong relationship existed between subgroup MMPI profile and surgery outcome. Thus, while these data argue against attempting to use group MMPI profiles to predict surgical outcome in patients who are suffering from pain, subgroup profiles do bear a strong relationship with surgery outcome and appear worthy of further investigation.