This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Researchers find no significant difference in clinical outcomes between total disc replacement and instrumented posterior fusion
Berg S. Spine J. 2011. doi:10.1016/j.spinee.2011.08.434.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
When comparing total disc replacement and instrumented posterior fusion as treatments for patients suffering from lower back pain, researchers found that surgical goals were met in most cases but the goals did not affect clinical outcomes at 2-year follow-up.
Svante Berg, MD, PhD, and colleagues studied the differences in postoperative disc height, range of motion and translation in adjacent segments in each technique for treating in 152 patients with chronic lower back pain that was assumed to be discogenic. The authors noted that preoperative range of motion was similar in both groups and disc height was within one and two standard deviations of established heights in benchmark data.
Despite reaching surgical goals in each group, there were some differences between each technique. Postoperatively, 70% of patients who underwent instrumented posterior fusion experienced no mobility, compared to 85% of patients who were mobile in the total disc replacement (TDR) group.
There was a significant difference in flexion-extension and translation in the fusion group, according to the abstract. The authors also found fusion segments were lower than normal levels, while the TDR group had higher segments.