ArticleEuropean spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society2026
Accelerated sagittal remodeling of lumbar facet joints following L4-L5 posterior lumbar interbody fusion: a longitudinal MRI study.
Article in 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, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeThis study aimed to investigate whether the progression of lumbar facet joint angle (FJA) in adjacent segment degeneration (ASD) occurs more rapidly in the sagittal plane compared to a matched control group.
methodsThis retrospective longitudinal study included 35 individuals from three hospitals who underwent L4-L5 posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) surgery and had preoperative lumbar magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. These patients also underwent follow-up MRI scans approximately four to five years postoperatively. A control group, matched for age and gender, was included for comparative analysis. MRI data were assessed using grading scales for facet joint degeneration (FJD) and lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD). FJA measurements were derived from T2-weighted axial images.
resultsNo significant progression of IDD was found in either group. Within the PLIF group, a more rapid progression of FJD was observed at the bilateral L5-S1 and right L3-L4 segments in comparison to the control group (P < 0.05). In contrast, the control group exhibited consistent lumbar FJA across all segments. Postoperative MRI scans of the PLIF group, however, demonstrated a significant reduction in FJA on both sides of the L3-L4 segment and on the left side of the L5-S1 segment (P < 0.05), with no significant changes observed at the L2-L3 segment and the right side of the L5-S1 segment. A significant negative correlation was found between the change in FJA (ΔFJA) and the change in FJD (ΔFJD) at the left L5-S1 segment in the PLIF group (ρ = -0.335, P = 0.049).
conclusionAccelerated sagittal facet remodeling occurs at segments adjacent to L4-L5 PLIF and correlates with facet degeneration. These hypothesis-generating preliminary findings suggest that FJA measurement has the potential to serve as an imaging biomarker for ASD risk, though this interpretation remains to be validated in larger prospective cohorts. The findings underscore the need for long-term postoperative surveillance.
Indexed as
Identifiers
42286351What 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.