Patient selection for lumbar arthroplasty and arthrodesis: The effect of revision surgery in a controlled, multicenter, randomized study

322 patients who were part of the CHARITE investigational device exemption in need of lumbar surgery were divided into 6 groups to compare clinical outcomes of each treatment. The groups were: A) anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF) without reoperation, B) ALIF with 360 degrees fusion, C) arthroplasty without reoperation (randomized), D) arthroplasty followed by posterior lumbar fixation (randomized), E) arthroplasty without reoperation (nonrandomized), and F) arthroplasty followed by posterior lumbar fixation (nonrandomized). Following assessments over a 24 months period, results indicated that there was a significantly lower level of clinical improvement in the (7.1%) patients who underwent a secondary stabilization procedure, than the patients who did not undergo re-operation.