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
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Patients with multisegmental degenerative disc disease (DDD) resistant to conservative therapy are typically treated with either fusion or non-fusion surgical techniques. The two techniques can be applied at adjacent levels using Dynesys (Zimmer GmbH, Winterthur, Switzerland) implants in a segment-by-segment treatment of multiple level DDD. The objective of this study was to evaluate the clinical and radiological outcome of patients treated using this segment-by-segment application of Dynesys in some levels as a non-fusion device and in other segments in combination with a PLIF as a fusion device. ⋯ Back pain improved from 7.3 +/- 1.7 to 3.4 +/- 2.7 (p < 0.000002), leg pain from 6.0 +/- 2.9 to 2.3 +/- 2.9 (p < 0.00006), and ODI from 51.6 +/- 13.2% to 28.7 +/- 18.0% (p < 0.00001). Screw loosening occurred in one of a total of 222 implanted screws (0.45%). The results indicate that segment-by-segment treatment with Dynesys in combination with interbody fusion is technically feasible, safe, and effective for the surgical treatment of multilevel DDD.