| Abstract: | Background. Discopathy most often occurs in persons from 20 to 50 years old, in the period of greatest physical and intellectual capacity, and thus poses a major social problem. The goal of our research was to evaluation the outcome of interbody fusion performed with metal cages. Material and methods. We operated 52 patients ranging in age from 29 to 60, who presented with prolapse of the nucleus pulposus (21 patients), instability (8 patients), lumbar stenosis (11 patients), and recurrent discopathy with spondylolisthesis (12 patients). Interbody fusion was performed on these patients from the posterior approach using metal implants. Results. Applying both subjective and radiological criteria, we obtained good outcome in 36 cases, satisfactory in 12 cases, and unsatisfactory in 4 cases. A follow-up at 4 years after surgery showed that the solution was effective in preventing lumbar stenosis and intervertebral instability. However, there were still difficulties in the assessment of bone union. Conclusions. Maintaining or expanding the height of the interbody space by using implants is indicated by radiography in our material to be the most important surgical intervention justifying the use of this method. Interbody fusion in discopathy using metal implants is a logical solution to prevent secondary stenosis of the vertebral canal and intervertebral instability. The outcomes obtained at 4-year follow-up should be regarded as satisfactory. |
