Evaluation of clinical and radiological outcomes in degenerative lumbar spine disorders treated with peek rod

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the clinical and radiological outcomes of patients undergoing transpedicular screw and polyetheretherketone (PEEK) rod stabilization for the surgical treatment of degenerative diseases of the lumbar spine. Materials and Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on 51 patients diagnosed with degenerative spine disease, such as recurrent disc herniation, spinal stenosis, spondylolisthesis, and adjacent segment disease, who underwent bilateral transpedicular screw-PEEK rod stabilization between May 2017 and November 2020. Preoperative and postoperative assessments included lumbar lordosis angles, sacral slope, pelvic incidence, pelvic tilt, visual analog scale (VAS) scores, PROLO economic and social scores, and the presence of adjacent segments and fusion. Results: The study included 51 patients with a mean age of 62.5 years (range: 18-85 years), with 56.8% (29 patients) being female and 43.2% (22 patients) being male. Surgical procedures involved single-level stabilization in 16 patients, two-level stabilization in 21 patients, three-level stabilization in 9 patients, and four-level stabilization in 5 patients. The mean follow-up period was 52.4 months. Postoperatively, there was a significant reduction in VAS scores from a mean of 8.2±1.3 to 3.4±1.7 (p≤0.01). No significant changes were observed in the lumbar lordosis angle, sacral slope, pelvic tilt angle, and pelvic incidence angle. The mean PROLO score improved from 3.5±1.2 preoperatively to 7.6±1.5 postoperatively. Fusion was observed in 43 patients during the follow-up period. Conclusion: The use of PEEK rods in the surgical treatment of degenerative lumbar spine diseases may lead to improved postoperative quality of life and reduced implant-related complications. Furthermore, our findings suggest that patients without sagittal balance impairment may benefit from PEEK rod stabilization without significant changes in spinal alignment. However, further comparative and long-term studies are required to better understand the efficacy and outcomes of PEEK rod systems in this treatment approach.