OriginalSourceMedpagetodayLeanUnratedCredibilityUnratedPublished22:00 UTCSourceMedpagetodayLeanUnratedCredibilityUnratedPublished22:00 UTC
“Another Surgical Treatment for Back Pain Fails in Rigorous Analysis”
Spinal fusion with decompression showed no added benefit vs decompression alone after one year in 1,446 vs 806 patients.
Key points
- Study compared 1,446 decompression-only to 806 with fusion in spinal stenosis.
- Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) improved similarly at 12 months in both groups.
- Mean ODI at 12 months: 20.0 with fusion vs 22.3 with decompression alone.
- Fusion increased operative time by ~85 minutes and hospital stay by ~1.9 days.
- Complication risk doubled with fusion, and reoperation risk increased further.
How it got here
Medpagetoday publishes the article.
concise reads it.