Do Lumbar Motion Preserving Devices the Risk of Adjacent Segment Pathology Compared With Fusion Surgery?

The article compares total disc replacement (TDR) with fusion and motion sparing devices with fusion to determine which procedure is associated with a lower risk of radiographical or clinical adjacent segment pathology (ASP). Results indicate low rate of ASP after lumbar spinal fusion. Compared with TDR, risk of clinical ASP is higher following fusion but there is no evidence that fusion may increase risk of ASP compared with other motion sparing procedures.