This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.

Addition of interbody arthrodesis to posterolateral arthrodesis adds no benefit

Add topic to email alerts

Receive an email when new articles are posted on

Please provide your email address to receive an email when new articles are posted on .

Subscribe

Added to email alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

Back to Healio

We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact customerservice@slackinc.com.

Back to Healio

CHICAGO — The addition of interbody arthrodesis to a posterolateral arthrodesis in the setting of a L4-5 degenerative spondylolisthesis surgery does not produce superior fusion rates and only adds to the cost of the overall procedure, according to results of a study presented here.

Researcher, John Heller, MD, said the combination of the two procedures has become popular with surgeons, but no analysis of its potential benefits has been taken prior to this study.

“There is no apparent clinical difference for how you treated these patients, whether you did a posterolateral arthrodesis alone, or whether you added an interbody arthrodesis,” Heller said during the Lumbar Spine Research Society Annual Meeting.

John Heller

The study compared the outcomes and cost analysis of 68 patients who underwent posterolateral arthrodesis (PLA) alone vs. 111 patients who underwent PLA combined with interbody arthrodesis (IBA). The average follow up for all patients was about 38.7 months, according to Heller.

When comparing the two groups, Heller said no statistically significant differences were found in fusion rates, Oswestry Disability Index scores or SF-36 scores at either 6 months’ follow-up or 3 years’ follow-up. This is notable, he said, as the PLA group was significantly older and had more comorbidities than the combination group.

The only notable improvement in the combination group when compared with the PLA-only group was an improvement of lordosis and sagittal balance by 1.5° (P = .04).

A cost analysis of the two procedures showed the addition of IBA only increased costs for the overall procedure when normalized for length of stay, while not adding any significant benefit for the patients, Heller said. – by Robert Linnehan

Reference:

Gottschalk MB, et al. Paper #2. Presented at: Lumbar Spine Research Society Annual Meeting. April 9-10, 2015; Chicago.

Disclosure: Heller reports he is a member of the K2M speakers bureau/has received payment for presentations; is a paid or unpaid employee or consultant of Medtronic and owns stock in Medtronic. He also receives travel reimbursement from CSRS.