From long-term disc replacement outcomes to outpatient spine case volume, here are four key spine studies Becker's reported on since June 10.
1. An FDA study found that Premia Spine's TOPS system saw better clinical results than spinal fusion for spinal stenosis and spondylolisthesis patients. The study, published in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, included 321 patients, according to a June 25 news release from the devicemaker. Researchers found that 73.5% of patients who had surgery with the TOPS arthroplasty system reached composite clinical success at 24 months postoperatively compared to 25.5% in the fusion group.
2. A study in the July 2024 issue of The Spine Journal examined how patients think about health-related quality of life over 12 months after spine surgery. Researchers included 173 adult lumbar spine patients and collected data before surgery, three months after surgery and 12 months postoperatively. Patients who had depression and didn't have depression were compared in cognitive appraisals. The results found presurgical and longitudinal differences in cognitive appraisal domains. Patients with depression were less likely than those without depression to focus on the positive and were more likely to focus on the worst moments about their spinal condition. Over time, patients with depression who improved focused more on the positive and balanced the positives and negatives.
3. An international study out of Stanford (Calif.) University found measuring the width of spared spinal cord tissue at an injury site can help predict patient recovery. Researchers included 227 cervical spinal cord injury patients from Switzerland, Germany and Colorado, according to a July 3 feature from Stanford. The study used MRI images to measure the remaining spinal cord tissue, or tissue bridges, around the injury site. The new study found that for every millimeter of preserved tissue bridge width, a patient was likely to gain 5.9 points on their motor score and 6.4 points on their light touch score after three months.
4. Lumbar spinal fusion procedures are more likely to fail in patients with diabetes, according to a new study from the University of Toledo (Ohio). Researchers believe that the failure rate could be linked to how diabetes impacts bone growth and healing. The study of 500 patients who underwent lumbar spinal fusion surgery at the University of Toledo Medical Center between 2009 and 2017 determined that individuals with diabetes were nearly three times more likely than those without diabetes to experience nonunion complications.