An article published in the Journal of Spinal Disorders and Techniques compared the clinical and radiologic outcomes of transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion procedures with and without pedicle screw support in patients with degenerative disc disease.
Researchers studied patients who underwent TLIF with or without pedicle screws between February 2006 and May 2009. They found:
• Pseudoarthrosis in two patients with pedicle screws and three patients without
• Procedure time of 110 minutes in pedicle screw patients, compared to 73 minutes in patients without pedicel screws
• Average total bleeding of 410 mL in patients with pedicle screws and 220 mL in patients without pedicle screws
• Cage loosening in one patient without pedicle screws
• Four patients who suffered from malposition of the screws
• One patient without pedicel screws who reported contralateral sciatic pain lasting for two months
• Initial visual analog scale and Oswestry disability index scores were higher in the patients with pedicle screws than without at one month, but there was no significant difference in patient reports after three months
• Three-fold higher cost in patients with pedicle screws when compared with patients who didn't have pedicle screws
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