Effects of compression and non-compression fusion cage on lumbar fusion / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND:The posterior lumbar interbody fusion is one of the effective methods for the treatment of lumbar and sacral spine diseases. Most surgeons fix the cage by compressing the disc space in order to keep stability and prevent dislodgement. However, some surgeons think that the non-compression technique does favor for increasing of the disc and foraminal height and thus improving the clinical outcomes, and does not increase the risk of fusion shift. OBJECTIVE:To compare the effects in fixing the cage by the compression and non-compression techniques on posterior lumbar interbody fusion. METHODS:Data of 64 patients with single-segment lumbar degeneration undergoing posterior lumbar interbody fusion between August 2009 and June 2014 were retrospectively analyzed. Fusion device was fixed according to compression of intervertebral space. These patients were divided into compression group (n=30) and non-compression group (n=34). RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:(1) Curative effectsLumbar and leg pain visual analogue score, Oswestry disability index, SF-36 score and the height of intervertebral space, intervertebral foramen height and lumbar lordosis were significantly improved postoperatively in each group compared with preoperatively (P0.05). (3) Correlation analysis:The increase of the intervertebral space and the height of the intervertebral foramen were not significantly correlated with the improvement of the clinical curative effect (P>0.05). (4) Test results demonstrated that outcomes of the compression technique to fix the cage are equivalent to the non-compression in posterior lumbar interbody fusion. Non-compression is advantageous to increase the intervertebral space and the height of the intervertebral foramen. Both of them are conducive to the recovery of lumbar lordosis, but are not correlated with the increase in clinical curative effect.