Ultimately, if surgery is indicated the operative risks should be borne in mind, but advanced age should not be the crucial factor in decision-making.

The unadjusted rate of incidental DT during decompression for LSS was homogeneous across the participating centres and was associated with age, BMI, previous surgery at the same spinal level, minimally/less invasive surgery, and laminectomy. Non-repair of DTs had no negative association with treatment outcome; however, the unrepaired DTs may have been those that were smaller in size.

The duration of pre-operative conservative treatment was not associated with the ultimate outcome of decompression surgery. Further research is required to investigate optimal thresholds/indications for surgery and its appropriate timing in individual patients.

Introduction Published opinions regarding the outcomes and complications in older patients have a broad spectrum and there is a disagreement whether surgery in older patients entails a higher risk. Therefore this study examines the risk of surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis relative to age in the pooled data set of the Spine Tango registry. Materials and methods Between May 2005 and February 2010 the database query resulted in 1,764 patients. The patients were subdivided into three socio-economically relevant age groups: \65 years, 65-74 years, C75 years. Frequencies for occurred surgical, general and follow-up complications were assessed. Multivariate and univariate logistic regressions were performed to reveal predictors for respective complication types. Results and discussion Our study found that age, ASA status and blood loss were significant co-varieties for the occurrence of general complications. The risk of general complications is increased in older versus younger patients. Fusion or rigid stabilization does not lead to more complications. Surgical complications as well as complication rates at follow-up showed no significant age-related variation. Physician-based outcome was good or excellent in over 80% of patients in all age groups.

The implantation of lumbar disc prostheses based on different design concepts is widely accepted. This paper reviews currently available literature studies on the biomechanics of TDA in the lumbar spine, and is targeted at the evaluation of possible relationships between the aims of TDA and the geometrical, mechanical and material properties of the various available disc prostheses. Both theoretical and experimental studies were analyzed, by a PUBMED search