EVALUATION OF POSTERIOR LUMBER INTERBODY FUSION WITHOUT INSTRUMENTATION IN LUMBER DEGENERATIVE DISC DISEASES

Background: Degenerative disc disease represents a common cause of chronic low back pain that makes some disabling and requires surgical intervention. Posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) represents one of the techniques used to deal with this disabling. Objective: To assess the results of the posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) without instrumentation in cases of degenerative disc diseases without instability. Patient and method: This was a prospective study of twenty patients who underwent surgical lumbar laminectomy and discectomy with interbody fusion and graft for degenerative lumbar diseases that not responsive to medical treatment for 6 months at Sayed Galal Hospital, Al-Azhar Faculty of Medicine. Result: There was a highly statistically significant decrease in the level of pain (VAS score) one week postoperatively compared to preoperative level with p-value < 0.001, and a statistically significant difference was found between preoperative pain (VAS score) level ,and post 6 months level with p-value < 0.001. Conclusion: Posterior lumbar interbody fusion technique without instrumentation showed several potential benefits in the treatment of degenerative disc disease (DDD).