Risk factors for adjacent segment degeneration after posterior lumbar fusion surgery in treatment for degenerative lumbar disorders: a meta-analysis

Study design: A meta-analysis.

Objective: We performed a meta-analysis to explore the incidence and risk factors of adjacent segment degeneration (ASD) after posterior lumbar fusion surgery.

Methods: An extensive search of the literature was performed in English database of PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library, and Chinese database of CNKI and WANFANG (up to May 2020). We collected factors including demographic data, surgical factor, and sagittal parameters. Data analysis was conducted with RevMan 5.3 and STATA 12.0.

Results: Finally, 19 studies were included in the final analysis. In our study, the rate of ASD after posterior lumbar fusion surgery was 18.6% (540 of 2896). Our data also showed that mean age, body mass index (BMI), the history of smoking and hypertension, preoperative adjacent disc degeneration, long-segment fusion, preoperative superior facet violation, high lumbosacral joint angle, pre- and post-operative L1-S1 sagittal vertical axis (SVA), post-operative lumbar lordosis (LL), and preoperative pelvic incidence (PI) were associated with the development of ASD. However, gender, history of diabetes, bone mineral density (BMD), preoperative Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) and Japanese Orthopedic Association (JOA), the type of fusion (PLIF vs TLIF), type of bone graft (auto- vs allograft), fusion to S1(vs non-fusion to S1), diagnose (lumbar disc herniation, lumbar spinal stenosis, lumbar spondylolisthesis), preoperative pelvic tilt (PT), LL and sacral slope (SS), post-operative SS, PT and PI were not associated with the development of ASD.

Conclusions: In our study, many factors were correlated with the risk of ASD after posterior lumbar fusion surgery. We hope this article can provide a reference for spinal surgeons in treatment for lumbar degenerative diseases.