European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society
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Early stages of intervertebral disc degeneration are postulated to cause instability. In the literature, however, some authors report the opposite. These contradictory positions are probably supported by the mostly small number of segments which are investigated. ⋯ In conclusion, the results indicated that early stages of intervertebral disc degeneration do not necessarily cause rotational instability. In contrast, stability increased in flexion/extension and lateral bending. Only in axial rotation stability tended to decrease.
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Herniated intervertebral disc causes in a great number of cases of lumbar nerve root compression, especially in the segment L5/S1. Other reasons responsible for stress to the lumbar spinal root are the spinal canal stenosis and the postdiscotomy syndrome. For patients without neurological deficiencies, the conservative treatment includes different epidural injection techniques. ⋯ The anatomical studies showed us a mean value volume of 1.1 ml. The surgical volume determinations result in a mean volume of 0.9 ml. A better understanding of the anterolateral epidural space may allow a reduction of the injection volume in the conservative nerve root compression treatment, especially using the epidural perineural technique, avoiding the risk of side effects of high doses of steroids.
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Review Comparative Study
Surgery versus conservative management of sciatica due to a lumbar herniated disc: a systematic review.
The effectiveness of surgery in patients with sciatica due to lumbar disc herniations is not without dispute. The goal of this study was to assess the effects of surgery versus conservative therapy (including epidural injections) for patients with sciatica due to lumbar disc herniation. A comprehensive search was conducted in MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, CENTRAL, and PEDro up to October 2009. ⋯ One large low-risk-of-bias trial demonstrated that early surgery in patients with 6-12 weeks of radicular pain leads to faster pain relief when compared with prolonged conservative treatment, but there were no differences after 1 and 2 years. Another large low-risk-of-bias trial between surgery and usual conservative care found no statistically significant differences on any of the primary outcome measures after 1 and 2 years. Future studies should evaluate who benefits more from surgery and who from conservative care.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Single-level instrumented posterolateral fusion of the lumbar spine with a local bone graft versus an iliac crest bone graft: a prospective, randomized study with a 2-year follow-up.
The iliac crest bone grafting (ICBG) technique for lumbar posterolateral fusion surgery is widely used; however, donor site problems such as pain and sensory disturbance have been reported. Local bone is available for fusion surgery, but its reliability as a graft has not been fully reported. In the current study, we examined single-level instrumented posterolateral fusion with a local bone graft versus an ICBG in a prospective randomized study. ⋯ Rate and average duration of bone union were 90% and 8.5 months in the local bone graft group, and 85% and 7.7 months in the ICBG group, but without significant difference (P > 0.05). Prolonged surgical time and complications such as donor site pain (8 patients) and sensory disturbance (6 patients) were observed in the ICBG group. If single-level posterolateral fusion was performed, local bone graft technique has the same bone union rate compared with ICBG, requires less surgical time, and has fewer complications.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
Posterior lumbar interbody fusion using non resorbable poly-ether-ether-ketone versus resorbable poly-L-lactide-co-D,L-lactide fusion devices. Clinical outcome at a minimum of 2-year follow-up.
Previous papers on resorbable poly-L-lactide-co-D,L-lactide (PLDLLA) cages in spinal fusion have failed to report adequately on patient-centred clinical outcome measures. Also comparison of PLDLLA cage with a traditionally applicable counterpart has not been previously reported. This is the first randomized prospective study that assesses clinical outcome of PLDLLA cage compared with a poly-ether-ether-ketone (PEEK) implant. ⋯ One-third of the patients in the PLDLLA group actually reported worsening of their pain scores and ODI. Three cases of mild to moderate osteolysis were seen in the PLDLLA group. Following up on our preliminary report, these 2-year results confirm the superiority of the PEEK implant to the resorbable PLDLLA implant in aiding spinal fusion and alleviating symptoms following PLIF in patients with degenerative spondylolisthesis associated with either canal stenosis or foramen stenosis or both and emanating from a single lumbar segment.