Authors: J RodríguezVela A LoboEscolar E JovenAliaga A Herrera J Vicente E Suñén A Loste A Tabuenca
Publish Date: 2009/04/28
Volume: 18, Issue: 8, Pages: 1194-
Abstract
It has been widely reported a vascular and neurologic damage of the lumbar muscles produced in the classic posterior approach for lumbar spinal fusions The purpose of this study is to demonstrate a better clinical and functional outcome in the postoperative and short term in patients undergoing minimal invasive surgery “miniopen” for this lumbar spinal arthrodesis We designed a prospective study with a 30 individuals cohort randomized in two groups depending on the approach performed to get a instrumented lumbar circumferential arthrodesis “classic posterior” CL group or “miniopen” approach MO group Several clinical and functional parameters were assessed including blood loss postoperative pain analgesic requirements and daily life activities during hospital stay and at the 3month followup Patients of the “miniopen approach” group had a significant lower blood loss and hospital stay during admission They also had significant lower analgesic requirements and faster recovery of daily life activities specially moderate efforts when compared to the patients of the “classic posterior approach” group No significant differences were found between two groups in surgery timing Xrays exposure or sciatic postoperative pain This study inline with previous investigations reinforces the concept of minimizing the muscular lumbar damage with a miniopen approach for a faster and better recovery of patients’ disability in the short term Further investigations are necessary to confirm these findings in the long term and to verify the achievement of a stable lumbar spinal fusion
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