Surgical Decompression

We reviewed the medical records of 40 patients treated by a single surgeon in an ASC. Two matched groups of 20 patients each, Group 1 control group of patients with single level posterior decompression with bilateral cortical bone trajectory pedicle screw (CBTPS) rod construct at L5-S1. Group 2 patients with single level posterior spinal decompression with supplemental fixation using unilateral pedicle screw rod construct combined with a contralateral transfacet pedicle screw fixation (UPFS) at L5-S1. IRB approval for this study was attained as part of a cohort population. Indications for surgery included chronic, disabling low back pain with or without leg pain secondary to degenerative disc and facet disease and/or grade I spondylolisthesis
As such, the eligibility criteria for lumbar fusion in an ambulatory center included [10, 11]:
Inclusion criteria for outpatient spine surgery used in this
Group 1 mean preoperative VAS scores for back pain improved from 7.8+/-0.5 to 2.5+/-0.7 at two year follow-up, p=0.001. Preoperative ODI scores improved from 40.8+/-3.3 to 29.0+/-1.7 at two year follow-up, p=0.004. In Group 2 preoperative VAS scores for back pain improved from 7.8+/-0.4 to 3.5+/-0.8 at two year follow-up, p=0.001. Preoperative ODI scores improved from 48.9+/-4.0 to 31.1+/-2.6 at two year follow-up, p=0.001. Comparison of group 1 and 2 revealed no statistical significance between postoperative VAS scores for back pain and ODI scores, p=0.733, 0.093 respectively. Analysis of Group 1 and Group 2 surgical times revealed no statistically significance 138+/-11 minutes and 136+/-10 minutes, respectively p=0.640. There was however significance between groups EBL, Group 1 resulting with 152+/-28 mL lost and Group 2 with 92+/-11 mL