Unilateral versus Bilateral Pedicle Screw Fixation Combined with Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion for the Treatment of Low Lumbar Degenerative Disc Diseases: Analysis of Clinical and Radiographic Results

Management of recurrent unilateral lumbar disc herniation in a single level: unilateral versus bilateral pedicle screws fixation with interbody fusion

“…In agreement with our results, Chen et al [3] found a highly statistically significant difference between preoperative and postoperative scores for both back pain and leg pain at the first, sixth, and twelfth postoperative month in both groups; and, on comparing the two groups, there was a statistically significant difference regarding VAS of the back pain in the first postoperative month, which was significantly lower in unilateral group; otherwise, there was no statistically significant difference regarding VAS of the back pain throughout the follow up period. Numerous authors reported similar results, including Işik et al [13], Yang et al [25], and Villavicencio et al [22].…”

“…Our study described a mean operative time for patients of the unilateral group patients to be 122.44 ± 14.21 min, the longest operative time was 160 min, and the shortest was 115 min; while that in the bilateral group was 164.32 ± 14.22 min, the longest operative time was 190 min, and the shortest was 120 min. The mean operative time for the unilateral and the bilateral group according to Işik et al's [13] study was 111.7 ± 24.31 min and 158.6 ± 18.30 min respectively, a result close to ours; a lesser mean operative time was noted by Chen et al [3], being 89.8 ± 19.7 min in the unilateral group and 109.1 ± 15.3 min in the bilateral group, while Zhang et al [27] recorded a longer mean operative time of 208 (126-275) minutes and 257 (158-300) respectively.…”

“…Close to our results, Chen et al [3] reported that after UPSF with interbody fusion, the mean disc height of the surgical segments has increased postoperatively, which was significantly less than the bilateral group; the mean disc height of adjacent cranial levels was reduced, significantly less than the values in the bilateral group, whereas the mean disc height of caudal level was reduced with no statistically significant difference between both groups. Similarly, Villavicencio et al [22] reported a statistically significant mean disc height increase in both groups postoperatively; however, they pointed a finger to a statistically significant foraminal height loss detected in the bilateral group compared to foraminal height loss in the unilateral group that was not statistically significant.…”

“…In comparison between the two groups included in our study, there was a highly statistically significant difference found between preoperative and postoperative at 1, 6, and 12 months concerning the mean ODI score in both groups; however, on comparing between both groups, there was no statistically significant difference regarding ODI except during the first postoperative month which was significantly lower in unilateral group. Chen et al (3) stated no statistically significant difference comparing ODI scores between the two groups at whole postoperative follow-up.…”

“…In our study, the mean hospital length of stay was 3.71 ± 0.88 days for the unilateral group cases ranging from 3 days recorded as the shortest up to 5 days as the longest hospital stay, while it was 4.52 ± 0.61 days in the bilateral group subjects and ranging between 4 and 6 days as the shortest and the longest recorded hospital stays respectively. Some studies recorded longer mean hospital stays as both Chen et al [3] and Zhang et al [27].…”