2016 ISASS Meeting : Lumbar Spinal Fusion as a Risk Factor for Adjacent Segment Degeneration - Results of a Secondary Analysis of Data from a Clinical, Multicenter, Randomized Controlled Trial

82 patients with two-level spinal stenosis and degenerative lumbar spondylolisthesis from a previous randomized controlled trial which evaluated the use decompression and interlaminar stabilization (ILS) with the Coflex device, and decompression with instrumented posterolateral fusion, were included in this secondary radiographic analysis. The purpose of this current study was evaluate radiographic parameters of segmental range of motion and disc-space height of the index segments and 1st and 2nd adjacent segments between the two treatment groups over 5-year follow-up. Results demonstrated a significant greater loss of disc-space height of the 1st adjacent segment in the fusion group as compared to the ILS group over 5 year follow-up.