🌐 EnglishEN

AI Cure is a research tool showing open data. Not medical advice. Discuss with your doctor. Terms

← Trials
🧪

Decompression Versus Decompression and Fusion

Recruitingn/aAges 18 Years - anyAllMassachusetts General Hospital
NCT04542720 on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
💬

In plain words

What the trial is, and whether it could suit you

Adjacent segment disease (ASD) in the lumbar spine is a well-known sequela of lumbar fusion surgery. The annual incidence of adjacent level re-operation is approximately 3% with a ten-year prevalence of 20-30%. Frequently, the surgical treatment involves decompression of the adjacent level coupled with extension of the instrumentation and fusion. Advocates of this paradigm cite the altered kinematics and biomechanics of levels adjacent to a lumbar fusion mass. Furthermore, decompressed levels adjacent to a fused segments are associated with higher rates of ASD in retrospective studies. Yet, a retrospective review of higher quality data concluded decompression adjacent to single-level fusion provides similar outcomes compared to fusions extending across the decompressed segments. Given the conflicting data currently available, higher quality data are needed to guide surgical decision-mak

Sign in to get the eligibility rules as simple questions to take to your doctor.

Sign in
📋 Eligibility rules (as published)
Inclusion Criteria: * Adult patients at least one year removed from a previous instrumented posterior lumbar fusion * Patients with any prior posterior fusion involving L2 to the sacrum, whether single-level or multilevel * Patients with symptoms related to central and lateral recess at the supradjacent level that have persisted despite at least six weeks of non-operative therapy modalities Exclusion Criteria: * Patients with previous uninstrumented lumbar fusions * Patients with traumatic, neoplastic, or infectious etiologies at the adjacent segment * Patients with prior iliac or sacroiliac fixation and those with nonunion as the primary indication for surgery * Patients with pre-existing instability at the supradjacent level. The definition of instability will be determined based on standing lateral, flexion and extension plain radiographs. Patients with \>3mm of change between these views will be excluded. * Retrolisthesis will not be a criterion for exclusion
💊

What it tests

  • Observational: Decompression
  • Observational: Extension Fusion
📍

Where

1 site
Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston, United States
🤝 Taking part is your choice, and you can leave at any time. Only the trial team can confirm you are eligible — always decide together with your own doctor.
🛡️

AI Cure shows public evidence (Open Targets, ClinicalTrials.gov, PubMed, openFDA, DepMap, AlphaFold) with its source, and AI summaries that cite it — not medical advice and not a cure. Treatment decisions belong with your doctor. Research ideas are shared only with approved researchers and labs, who can test them. In an emergency call your local emergency number (112 in India and Europe, 911 in the US). AI Cure Terms of Use · Privacy