The mean preoperative VAS score improved 79 points after patients underwent the procedure.
By Gina Brockenbrough
ORTHOPEDICS TODAY 2009; 29:58
Using the pedicle-hook-and-rod method with a percutaneous pedicle screw to treat young adult patients with lumbar spondylolysis may lead to a significant reduction in low-back pain, according to investigators in Japan.
“The spondylolytic patients who need the direct repair surgery are mostly young and very active, and sometimes sports players,” Koichi Sairyo, MD, and Toshinori Sakai, MD, co-authors of the study told Orthopedics Today. “Therefore, damage to the muscle by surgery should be minimal. Thus, this technique is efficient.” Sairyo and Sakai presented their research in a poster at the 36th Annual Meeting of the International Society of the Study of the Lumbar Spine (ISSLS).
However, Orthopedics Today Spine Section Editor, Scott D. Boden, MD, noted the need for a larger, comparative study on the technique.
