Effective of Fusion in the Treatment of Lumbar Spinal Stenosis：A Systematic Review Andmeta-Analysis

Abstract Objective: The debate on efficacy of fusion added to decompression for lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) is ongoing. The primary objective of this systematic review is to compare the outcome after decompression with and without fusion in patients with lumbar spinal stenosis .Methods: A literature search was performed in the Web of Science, EMBASE, Pubmed,and Cochrane Libraryfrom January 1990 to May 2021.The information of screened studies included clinical outcomes, and secondary measures, then data synthesis and meta-analysis were progressed.Data analysis was conducted using the Review Manager 5.0 software.Results: 17 studies were included in the analysis involving 2947 patients in total. In the majority of studies, including seven RCTs and ten observational studies. The pooled data revealed that fusion was associated with signifificantly higher rates of back pain scores when compared with decompression alone in RCT subgroup(SMD=-0.42, 95% CI (–0.60, -0.23), Z=4.31 P<0.0001).However, fusion signifificantly increased the intraoperative blood loss, operative time and hospital stay. Both techniques had similar leg Pain scores , EQ-5D, walking ability，ODI，major complication,clinical satisfactions and reoperation rate.Conclusions: Our studies showed that the additional fusion in the management of LSS yielded no clinical improvements over decompression alone within a 1-year follow-up period. We suggested that the least invasive and least costly procedure, being decompression alone, is preferred in patients with degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis. The appropriate surgical protocol for LSS should be discussed further.