ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the effect of herbs for nourishing kidney and strengthening governor vessel on postoperative intervertebral fusion rate in elderly patients with degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis ( DLSS) . Methods A retrospective analysis was carried out for the clinical data of 72 elderly DLSS patients treated with modified transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) during the period from October, 2012 to October, 2013. The patients were divided into two groups, 39 in Chinese medicine group and 33 in control group. Operative efficacy was evaluated with Japanese Orthopaedic Association ( JOA) scores for assessment of cervical myelopathy, postoperative function improvement was evaluated by Oswestry disability index (ODI) scores, and lumbar interbody fusion was evaluated by the modified Brantigan scores. Results (1) During the follow-up period, patients of the two groups had no complications such as screw breaking or loosening, cage displacement, or endplate collapse. (2) Before opera tion and 3 days after operation, the differences of JOA scores were insignificant between the two groups (P>0.05) . (3) Significant difference of intragroup ODI scores were shown 12 months after operation vs 6 months after operation, and between 6 months after operation and pre-operation in the two groups (P<0.01) . ODI scores of Chinese medicine group 6 and 12 months after operation were lower than those of the control group, the difference being significant ( P<0.05 or P<0.01) . ( 4) The results of modified Brantigan scoring showed that the interbody fusion rate 6 months after operation was 71.79% in Chinese medicine group, higher than 48.48% in the control group ( P<0.05) . Twelve months months after operation, the interbody fusion rate was 87.18% in Chinese medicine group, higher than 66.67% in the control group (P<0.05) . Conclusion Herbs for nourishing kidney and strengthening governor vessel may improve the lumbar interbody fusion rate and the quality of life of the elderly DLSS patients treated by modified TLIF.