Study: TranS1 spine surgery leads to complications down the road

Patients who underwent TranS1’s minimally invasive spine surgery technique to repair 2 discs fared well initially but developed complications down the road, according to a small Brazilian study in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine.
A small, 27-patient study in Brazil showed that patients who underwent minimally invasive spine surgery using TranS1’s AxiaLif procedure did well at first but developed complications within 2 years.Results from the study, published in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine this week, showed that the TranS1 technique, although already proven effective for a single spinal fusion, applying the technique to 2 fusions was not effective and was often accompanied by complications.
“No intraoperative complications were related to the surgical approach. Significant clinical improvement was apparent following surgery. By the 2-year follow-up, patients reported a 50% reduction in back pain and a 40% reduction in disability,” according to the study.
“Outcomes of the procedure documented by imaging studies, however, were not as promising. The surgical goals of disc height/foramen space distraction, lordosis gain/maintenance, and spine stabilization appeared to be achieved shortly after surgery; however, as time progressed these achievements were lost and in some cases outcomes were worse than before surgery,” according to the trial.Complications were frequent, according to the researchers, including screw breakage in 14.8% of patients, rod detachment in 11.1%), cephalic rod migration in 24% and radiolucency around the transsacral rod in 52%.And after 2 years, solid spinal fusion had been obtained at both levels in only 2 patients (8%), suggesting that further study of the AxiaLif procedure for 2-level fusions is warranted.
Source:www.massdevice.com/