Comparison of two types of surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis in elderly: decompressive laminectomy with and without fusion

Abstract

Aim: To compare decompressive total laminectomy with and without instrumented fusion.Materials and Methods: 54 patients who underwent decompression formed the group 1, and 48 patients who underwent decompression plus fusion formed group 2. Patients were compared in terms of age, sex, body mass index, duration of surgery, length of hospital stay, visual analog scale (VAS) and oswestry disability index (ODI) scores and complications.Results: No significantly differences about age, sex, body mass index (BMI), length of hospital stay were found between the groups. There was significant difference between the groups about mean operative times (p<0.05). In both of the groups VAS scores improved significantly. In both groups there was statistically significant decrease in ODI values. And second surgery requirement was significantly higher in the group 2 (p<0.01).Conclusion: Facet protective decompression surgery performed up to two levels can be successfully terminated without fusion.