SynthesisSpine deformity2024
Comparable rates of lumbar disc degeneration at long-term following adolescent idiopathic scoliosis spinal fusion extended to L3 or L4: systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Spine deformity, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Return to Sport After Surgery for Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis: From Time-Based Clearance to Sport-Specific Readiness.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeSurgical treatment of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) requires a careful choice of fusion levels. The usual recommendation for the selection of the lowest instrumented vertebra (LIV) for double major or thoracolumbar/lumbar (TL/L) curves falls on L3 or L4. The aim of the present study is to assess if the spinal fusion with LIV selection of L3 or L4 in AIS patients has a clinical or radiological impact in terms of degenerative disc disease (DDD) in distal unfused segments at long-term follow-up.
methodsA systematic search of electronic databases from eligible articles was conducted. Only studies regarding long-term follow-up of AIS patients treated with spinal fusion were included. Clinical and radiographic outcomes were extracted and summarized. Meta-analysis on long-term follow-up MRI studies was performed. p value < 0.05 was considered significant.
resultsFourteen studies were included, for a total of 1264 patients. Clinical assessment of included patients showed a slight tendency to have worse clinical outcomes if spinal fusion is extended to L4 rather than L3. Despite that, meta-analysis could not be performed on clinical parameters because of heterogeneity of evaluated PROMs in included studies. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) evaluation at long-term follow-up showed no significant difference in terms of disc degeneration rate at overall meta-analysis (p = 0.916) between patients fused to L3 and L4.
conclusionThe LIV selection of L3 rather than L4, according to current literature, does not prevent disc degeneration in distal unfused segments over the long term. Long-term studies of patients treated with contemporary spinal instrumentation are needed.
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