Trial reportSpine2009
Does treatment (nonoperative and operative) improve the two-year quality of life in patients with adult symptomatic lumbar scoliosis: a prospective multicenter evidence-based medicine study.
Trial report in Spine, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 2 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 117 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Cost Effectiveness of Nonoperative Management for Adult Spinal Deformity Associated With Low Grade Scoliosis: A Prospective Pilot Study to Evaluate Disease Burden and Longitudinal Study Feasibility
Physiotherapeutic Scoliosis Specific Exercises As Treatment for Adult Degenerative Scoliosis vs Conventional Physical Therapy Exercises
Who cites it
117 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Risk factors of early complications after thoracic and lumbar spinal deformity surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2023Pooled it
- Effect of lumbar laminectomy on spinal sagittal alignment: a systematic review.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2021Pooled it
- A systematic literature review of spinal brace/orthosis treatment for adults with scoliosis between 1967 and 2018: clinical outcomes and harms data.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2020Pooled it
- Complications in adult spine deformity surgery: a systematic review of the recent literature with reporting of aggregated incidences.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2018Pooled it
- Quality of life outcomes in surgically treated adult scoliosis patients: a systematic review.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2015Pooled it
- Operative Versus Nonoperative Treatment for Adult Symptomatic Lumbar Scoliosis.The Journal of bone and joint surgery. American volume · 2019Trial
- Trial
- Adults with idiopathic scoliosis improve disability after motor and cognitive rehabilitation: results of a randomised controlled trial.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2016Trial
- Osteoporosis and adult spinal deformity-a review for spinal surgeons by the SRS adult spinal deformity task force on senescence.Spine deformity · 2026Review
- Spinopelvic Realignment and Clinical Outcomes After Surgical Management of Adult Degenerative Lumbar Deformity: A Multicenter Retrospective Cohort Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Defining substantial clinical benefits of PROMIS pain interference in adult spinal deformity patients.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2026Article
- Core offset distance: a novel metric for regional imbalance and its association with postoperative coronal malalignment in degenerative lumbar scoliosis.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2026Article
- Decision-Making in the Surgical Management of Rigid Congenital Spinal Deformities: The Role of Vertebral Column Resection and Less Invasive Alternatives.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- [AI-based surgical planning of adult spinal deformities : Analysis of an AI-based tool for correction planning and execution employing patient-specific contoured rods].Orthopadie (Heidelberg, Germany) · 2026Review
- Short-term clinical outcomes in single-stage vs. two-stage corrective surgery after pedicle subtraction osteotomy for degenerative deformities in an elderly cohort.Brain & spine · 2026Article
- Comparison of quality of life between operated and non-operated adults with painful degenerative scoliosis: a 2-year prospective multicentered observational study.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2026Observational
- Comparative study of 2-Octylcyanoacrylate plus polymer mesh tape and surgical stapler for preventing surgical site infection following corrective fusion in patients with adult spinal deformity: a retrospective cohort study.Journal of orthopaedic surgery and research · 2025Article
- Preoperative coronal imbalance in degenerative scoliosis: a study on coronal and sagittal spinal-pelvic parameters--a retrospective study.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2025Article
- Higher intraoperative blood loss is associated with increased risk of intraoperative neuromonitoring data loss for the type 3 spinal cord shape during spinal deformity surgery.Spine deformity · 2025Article
- Predicting postoperative imbalance in adult spinal deformity staged surgery using predictive thresholds.Scientific reports · 2025Article
57 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
STUDY
designProspective observational cohort study with matched and unmatched comparisons. Level II evidence.
objectiveThe purpose of this study is to compare results of adult symptomatic lumbar scoliosis (ASLS) patients treated nonoperatively and operatively. This is an evidence-based prospective multicenter study to answer the question of whether nonoperative and operative treatment improves the quality of life (QOL) in these patients at 2-year follow-up. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Only 1 paper in the peer-reviewed published data directly addresses this question. That paper suggested that operative treatment was more beneficial than nonoperative care, but the limitations relate to historical context (all patients treated with Harrington implants) and the absence of validated patient-reported QOL (QOL) data.
methodsThis study assesses 160 consecutively enrolled patients (ages 40-80 years) with baseline and 2-year follow-up data from 5 centers. Lumbar scoliosis without prior surgical treatment was defined as a minimum Cobb angle of 30 degrees (mean: 54 degrees for patients in this study). All patients had either an Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) score of 20 or more (mean: 33) or Scoliosis Research Society (SRS) domain scores of 4 or less in pain, function, and self-image (mean: 3.2) at baseline. Pretreatment and 2-year follow-up data collected prospectively included basic radiographic parameters, complications and SRS QOL, ODI, and Numerical Rating Scale back and leg pain scores.
resultsAt 2 years, follow-up on the operative patients was 95% and for the nonoperative patients it was 45%. The demographics for the nonoperative patients who were followed up for 2 years versus those who were lost to follow-up were identical. The operative cohort significantly improved in all QOL measures. The nonoperative cohort did not improve and nonsignificant decline in QOL scores was common. At minimum 2-year follow-up, operative patients outperformed nonoperative patients by all measures.
conclusionIt would appear from this study that common nonoperative treatments do not change the QOL in patients with ASLS at 2-year follow-up. However, operative treatment does significantly improve the QOL for this group of patients. Our conclusions are limited by the fact that we were only able to follow-up 45% of the nonoperative group to 2-year follow-up, in spite of extensive efforts on our part to accomplish such.
Indexed as
Identifiers
19752703What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.