A review: Reduced reoperation rate for multilevel lumbar laminectomies with noninstrumented versus instrumented fusions.

CONCLUSIONS: Many studies document no benefit for adding instrumentation to laminectomies performed for degenerative disease, including spondylolisthesis. Reoperation rates for laminectomy alone/laminectomy with noninstrumented fusions vary from 1.3% to 5.6% whereas reoperation rates for ASD after instrumented PLIF was 80% at 5 postoperative years. This review should prompt spinal surgeons to reexamine when, why, and whether instrumentation is really necessary, particularly for treating degenerative lumbar disease. PMID: 27274408 [PubMed]
Source: Surgical Neurology International - Category: Neurosurgery Tags: Surg Neurol Int Source Type: research