Lumbar Degenerative Disease

The goal of this clinical trial is to determine the change in VBQ score, T score, TBS, and Hounsfield Units (HU) after 3-6 months of treatment with abaloparatide in osteoporotic patients who will undergo spinal fusion and decompression for lumbar degenerative disease. The main question\[s\] it aims to answer is: Does abaloparatide improve bone density in these patients, as defined by VBQ score compared to traditional methods such as DEXA and Hounsfield Units Does abaloparatide reduce the incidence of postoperative mechanical complications, including adjacent segment disease, subsidence, and proximal junctional kyphosis (PKJ)? Participants will undergo a presurgical assessments and trained in clinic on the subcutaneous application of abaloparatide. Prior to treatment, patients will have baseline assessments, including a lumbar MRI, DEXA scan, and lumbar CT. Post-surgically, participants will administer abaloparatide and return to clinic after 3-6 months for follow-up assessments including a new MRI, lumbar CT, and DEXA scan. Patients will be followed for up to 2 years postoperatively to identify complications such as adjacent segment disease, pseudarthrosis, failure of instrumentation, and PJK.

This multicenter, parallel-group, assessor-blinded randomized controlled trial will enroll 248 adults aged ≥75 years with degenerative lumbar spinal diseases scheduled for elective lumbar fusion surgery, and they will be randomized 1:1 into the intervention and usual care groups. The intervention group will receive a 6-week PHYSIO-Prehab multimodal prehabilitation program, including multicomponent exercise, nutritional intervention, comorbidity optimization, and cognitive prehabilitation with brain protection strategies. The control group will receive standard health education provided via a manual, and both groups will receive consistent perioperative Enhanced Recovery After Surgery care. The primary outcome will be the change in Barthel Index (a tool for assessing independence in activities of daily living) from baseline to 30 days postoperatively; secondary outcomes will include pain scores, disability, patient satisfaction, and the 30-day postoperative Comprehensive Complication Index. The trial will initiate recruitment in April 2026 and conclude in December 2027, aiming to evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of PHYSIO-Prehab and provide high-quality evidence for patient-centered perioperative care pathways in this population.

Background Degenerative disc disease (DDD) is the leading cause of lower back pain and disability, which prevalence increasing with age. When conservative treatment fails, surgical methods of spinal fusion are employed. Minimally invasive techniques, including minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (MIS-TLIF) and midline lumbar interbody fusion (MIDLIF), have well-documented advantages over traditional open transforaminal interbody fusion (open-TLIF). However, data comparing these two minimally invasive methods in treating DDD are minimal and sometimes contradictory. I am running a few minutes late; my previous meeting is running over. Methods This is a prospective, randomized, partially blinded, two-arm trial aiming to compare the outcomes, complications, and treatment costs of MIS-TLIF and MIDLIF in patients with discogenic low back pain. A total of 100 adult patients with lumbosacral spine pain and radicular symptoms, unresponsive to conservative treatment for over one year, will be enrolled. Patients will be randomized (1:1) into two arms: MIS-TLIF (control, n=50) and MIDLIF (intervention, n=50), with a 12-month follow-up. Inclusion criteria include age ≥18 years and discopathy at one or two levels requiring interbody stabilization. Exclusion criteria include multilevel pathology, spinal deformities, and pain causes other than degenerative disease. Primary endpoints assess pain (VAS, NRS scales), disability (COMI, ODI questionnaires), and quality of life (EQ-5D-5L questionnaire) at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months post-surgery. Secondary endpoints include complication rates (nerve root damage, infections), costs (hospitalization, implants), length of hospital stay, procedure duration, blood loss, morphometric parameters (intervertebral space height), and adjacent segment disease based on imaging studies (MRI, CT, X-ray). Data analysis uses parametric/non-parametric tests (e.g., t-test, Mann-Whitney) in the R software. The trial adheres to the Helsinki Declaration, with ethics approval (no. 112/2024). Discussion Data on the comparison of MIDLIF and MIS-TLIF in treating DDD are minimal and inconsistent. Some reports have advantaged MIDLIF in shorter operative time, decreased intraoperative blood loss, and reduced hospital stays, while others favor MIS-TLIF. This trial addresses these gaps by providing high-quality evidence on clinical superiority, cost-effectiveness, and long-term outcomes compering MIDLIF and MIS-TLIF. There is a high need for a high-quality, prospective study to examine this problem.

Comparing the functional and radiographic outcomes in surgical treatment in failed conservative treatment, single-level low grade degenerative lumbar spondylolisthesis between Minimal Invasive Surgery Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion, which is conventional treatment recently, and Endoscopic Lumbar Decompression, which is minimal invasive in symptomatic treatment.

This will be a prospective, multi-centre study at a National Tertiary Referral Centre for spinal trauma and spinal cord injuries, serving a catchment area of 5 million people. This study will follow patients undergoing anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF) procedure. This trial seeks to evaluate the performance of this CE-marked device, and to assess outcomes in frail and non-frail patient cohorts. The CONDUIT™ ALIF Cage System are intervertebral body fusion devices intended for use for anterior lumbar interbody fusion in skeletally mature patients. The devices are 3D printed cellular titanium implants that feature 80% porous macro-, micro- and nanostructures, are designed to mimic cortical and cancellous bone, and facilitate fusion. This pilot study hypothesizes that the use of CONDUIT ALIF Cage system to treat lumbar degenerative disc disease will achieve results comparable to historical cases using SYNFIX Systems.

This study wants to understand if using a pre-operative anesthetic injection could contribute to better pain relief after the surgery. This injection is referred to as an erector spinae plane block (ESPB, or "Block" for short). In the past, blocks have been commonly used to alleviate different types of pain, including pain following lumbar spine surgery, but our investigators are curious to study if adding two additional commonly used drugs could improve pain relief following surgery when used together. This possibility for improvement in pain management is important for our doctors to study because they want to find ways to reduce the amount of pain medication required after surgery. We try to assess if one treatment is better than the other by looking into the amount of pain medication used immediately after the surgery (up to five times within the first 2 days; this is usually done by reviewing progress notes) and by asking patients if they can share with us their pain experienced at different times during their stay at the hospital and at 2-weeks after their procedure.

Lumbar degenerative disease is a common disease among middle-aged and elderly people as well as those who sit for a long time, mainly manifested as symptoms such as lower back pain, stiffness, and numbness in the lower limbs. Traditional surgical treatments such as lumbar fusion can alleviate symptoms, but may lead to complications such as adjacent segment degeneration. Therefore, exploring safer and more effective treatment methods is of great significance. Topping off technique, as a new treatment method, combines the advantages of interbody fusion and dynamic fixation, aiming to reduce the pressure on the intervertebral disc at the surgical site, promote the repair of diseased intervertebral discs, while preserving partial mobility of the lumbar spine.The aim of this study is to evaluate the clinical efficacy and imaging changes of Topping off technique in the treatment of lumbar degenerative diseases. The Topping off technique combines posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) and Wallis interspinous dynamic fixation device implantation. Through prospective clinical trials, its therapeutic effect on patients with continuous double segment lumbar degenerative diseases was observed. The study included patients who underwent surgery for degenerative lumbar diseases in L4-5 and L5-S1, who were treated with two-stage fusion surgery and Topping off technique, respectively. Follow up was conducted before and after surgery, with an average follow-up time of 24 months. Evaluate preoperative and postoperative efficacy using Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), Pain Visual Analog Scale (VAS), and Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) lumbar spine function score, and calculate recovery rate. At the same time, X-ray and MRI images were used to detect the overall range of motion (L2\~S1ROM) of the lumbar spine, the range of motion (ROM) of the Wallis device inserted segments, the intervertebral disc height index (DHI), and the relative signal intensity of the nucleus pulposus (RSI) of the intervertebral disc.