Decompression Versus Decompression and Fusion

NCT ID: NCT04542720

Last Updated: 2025-11-21

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

RECRUITING

Total Enrollment

96 participants

Study Classification

OBSERVATIONAL

Study Start Date

2020-09-01

Study Completion Date

2027-09-30

Brief Summary

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Adjacent segment disease (ASD) in the lumbar spine is a well-known sequela of lumbar fusion surgery. The annual incidence of adjacent level re-operation is approximately 3% with a ten-year prevalence of 20-30%. Frequently, the surgical treatment involves decompression of the adjacent level coupled with extension of the instrumentation and fusion. Advocates of this paradigm cite the altered kinematics and biomechanics of levels adjacent to a lumbar fusion mass. Furthermore, decompressed levels adjacent to a fused segments are associated with higher rates of ASD in retrospective studies. Yet, a retrospective review of higher quality data concluded decompression adjacent to single-level fusion provides similar outcomes compared to fusions extending across the decompressed segments.

Given the conflicting data currently available, higher quality data are needed to guide surgical decision-making in ASD. The purpose of this trial is to prospectively compare decompression and decompression with fusion in patients with lumbar ASD.

Detailed Description

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Conditions

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Adjacent Segment Disease

Study Design

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Observational Model Type

COHORT

Study Time Perspective

PROSPECTIVE

Study Groups

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Observational: Decompression

Eligible patients may have a preference for the surgical procedure they wish to have. In these instances, they may choose to undergo a decompression alone or a decompression with extension of fusion. These patients are eligible for the study and will be enrolled under observational arms. This arm refers to the decompression alone observational study arm.

Observational: Decompression

Intervention Type PROCEDURE

Patients will undergo decompression alone of the supradjacent level. The surgical technique will be surgeon dependent. All surgeons will be encouraged to avoid damaging facet joints above the fusion mass, retaining 50% of the pars of the decompressed level and performing as minimal of a medial facetectomy as necessary.

Observational: Extension Fusion

Eligible patients may have a preference for the surgical procedure they wish to have. In these instances, they may choose to undergo a decompression alone or a decompression with extension of fusion. These patients are eligible for the study and will be enrolled under observational arms. This arm refers to the decompression with extension of fusion observational study arm.

Observational: Extension Fusion

Intervention Type PROCEDURE

Patients will undergo decompression and extension of posterior instrumentation and fusion. This may or may not include exchange of pre-existing instrumentation. The use of interbody cages will be left to the discretion of the treating surgeon. The purpose of introducing this heterogeneity is to increase the generalizability of the trial results. The fusion cohort will not utilize bone morphogenetic protein products.

Interventions

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Observational: Decompression

Patients will undergo decompression alone of the supradjacent level. The surgical technique will be surgeon dependent. All surgeons will be encouraged to avoid damaging facet joints above the fusion mass, retaining 50% of the pars of the decompressed level and performing as minimal of a medial facetectomy as necessary.

Intervention Type PROCEDURE

Observational: Extension Fusion

Patients will undergo decompression and extension of posterior instrumentation and fusion. This may or may not include exchange of pre-existing instrumentation. The use of interbody cages will be left to the discretion of the treating surgeon. The purpose of introducing this heterogeneity is to increase the generalizability of the trial results. The fusion cohort will not utilize bone morphogenetic protein products.

Intervention Type PROCEDURE

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* Adult patients at least one year removed from a previous instrumented posterior lumbar fusion
* Patients with any prior posterior fusion involving L2 to the sacrum, whether single-level or multilevel
* Patients with symptoms related to central and lateral recess at the supradjacent level that have persisted despite at least six weeks of non-operative therapy modalities

Exclusion Criteria

* Patients with previous uninstrumented lumbar fusions
* Patients with traumatic, neoplastic, or infectious etiologies at the adjacent segment
* Patients with prior iliac or sacroiliac fixation and those with nonunion as the primary indication for surgery
* Patients with pre-existing instability at the supradjacent level. The definition of instability will be determined based on standing lateral, flexion and extension plain radiographs. Patients with \>3mm of change between these views will be excluded.
* Retrolisthesis will not be a criterion for exclusion
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sponsors

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Massachusetts General Hospital

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Daniel G.Tobert, M.D.

Principle Investigator

Responsibility Role PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

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Daniel Tobert, MD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Massachusetts General Hospital

Locations

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Massachusetts General Hospital

Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Site Status RECRUITING

Countries

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United States

Central Contacts

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Daniel Tobert, MD

Role: CONTACT

617-643-3932

Amelia L Osgood, BA

Role: CONTACT

617-643-3932

Facility Contacts

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Daniel Tobert, MD

Role: primary

References

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Sears WR, Sergides IG, Kazemi N, Smith M, White GJ, Osburg B. Incidence and prevalence of surgery at segments adjacent to a previous posterior lumbar arthrodesis. Spine J. 2011 Jan;11(1):11-20. doi: 10.1016/j.spinee.2010.09.026.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 21168094 (View on PubMed)

Ghiselli G, Wang JC, Bhatia NN, Hsu WK, Dawson EG. Adjacent segment degeneration in the lumbar spine. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2004 Jul;86(7):1497-503. doi: 10.2106/00004623-200407000-00020.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 15252099 (View on PubMed)

Lee CK, Langrana NA. Lumbosacral spinal fusion. A biomechanical study. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 1984 Sep;9(6):574-81. doi: 10.1097/00007632-198409000-00007.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 6495027 (View on PubMed)

Radcliff KE, Kepler CK, Jakoi A, Sidhu GS, Rihn J, Vaccaro AR, Albert TJ, Hilibrand AS. Adjacent segment disease in the lumbar spine following different treatment interventions. Spine J. 2013 Oct;13(10):1339-49. doi: 10.1016/j.spinee.2013.03.020. Epub 2013 Jun 15.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 23773433 (View on PubMed)

Maragkos GA, Motiei-Langroudi R, Filippidis AS, Glazer PA, Papavassiliou E. Factors Predictive of Adjacent Segment Disease After Lumbar Spinal Fusion. World Neurosurg. 2020 Jan;133:e690-e694. doi: 10.1016/j.wneu.2019.09.112. Epub 2019 Sep 27.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 31568911 (View on PubMed)

Smorgick Y, Park DK, Baker KC, Lurie JD, Tosteson TD, Zhao W, Herkowitz HN, Fischgrund JS, Weinstein JN. Single- versus multilevel fusion for single-level degenerative spondylolisthesis and multilevel lumbar stenosis: four-year results of the spine patient outcomes research trial. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2013 May 1;38(10):797-805. doi: 10.1097/BRS.0b013e31827db30f.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 23169068 (View on PubMed)

Dawson L, Zarin DA, Emanuel EJ, Friedman LM, Chaudhari B, Goodman SN. Considering usual medical care in clinical trial design. PLoS Med. 2009 Sep;6(9):e1000111. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1000111. Epub 2009 Sep 29.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 19787044 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

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2020P000603

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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