Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Lumbar degenerative disease has been commonly treated with nucleus pulposus extirpation or nucleus pulposus extirpation combined with internal fixation; however, with the development of non-rigidity fixation, interspinous dynamic stabilization and intervertebral disk displacement attract more and more attention. 
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the therapeutic effect of Wallis interspinous dynamic stabilization on lumbar degenerative disease compared with lumbar spinal canal decompression.
METHODS: A total of 40 patients with lumbar degenerative disease were selected from Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology between December 2007 and December 2008. Twenty patients were treated with nucleus pulposus extirpation alone, considering as control group; while, other 20 patients were treated with nucleus pulposus extirpation combined with Wallis interspinous dynamic stabilization, considering as experimental group. JOA score and VAS score were made at 1 week and 1 year postoperatively for all the patients.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: There was no significant difference in JOA score and VAS score between two groups at 1 week postoperatively (P > 0.05); but there was significant difference in both scores at 1 year postoperatively (P < 0.05). The results demonstrated that both methods achieved well therapeutic effects, which depended on effective decompression. The therapeutic effect of the first group was better than the second group, depending on the favourable biologic effect of the implantation of Wallis interspinous dynamic stabilization, which could effectively relieve the residual low back pain.