Two-stage surgery with oblique lateral interbody fusion and posterior fixation in degenerative scoliosis with lumbosacral curve-driven degenerative lumbar scoliosis: a feasible option to prevent postoperative coronal decompensation

This study aims to introduce a two-stage surgical procedure, namely oblique lateral interbody fusion (OLIF), for spinal disorders treatment. Furthermore, clinical outcomes and imaging results are analyzed between OLIF with posterior fixation and posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) with fixation for lumbosacral curve-driven degenerative lumbar scoliosis (DLS).

146 patients with type 2 DLS who underwent OLIF or PLIF between January 2019 and November 2023 were included. Spinal and pelvic parameters were measured using X-ray imaging before and after surgery. Clinical symptoms were assessed using Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) and visual analog scale (VAS). Operation time, intraoperative blood loss, surgical fixation segments, drainage tube indwelling time, and drainage volume were recorded.

70 patients underwent OLIF and 76 underwent PLIF. Preoperative and postoperative clinical symptoms remain the same (p > 0.05). OLIF group exhibited significantly less intraoperative blood loss, fewer fixation segments, shorter drainage tube retention time, and reduced drainage volume (p < 0.01). Additionally, improvements in coronal parameters, including coronal balance distance, were more pronounced in OLIF group with less potential postoperative coronal imbalance (p < 0.05).

For type 2 DLS, two-stage surgery of OLIF with posterior fixation represents a more efficient surgical approach, reducing surgical fusion segments, causing less trauma and bleeding, and effectively avoiding postoperative coronal plane decompensation than traditional posterior surgery.