الفهرس 
1. IntroductionOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 103 |  |  |
| | | from | 103 | | |
Abstract
Chronic discogenic back pain caused by degenerative disc disease is a common proplem in the general population. The degeneration often results from changes in the intervertebral discs, facet joints, and ligaments surrounding the vertebral canal.
In clinical practice, lateral recess stenosis and foraminal stenosis may induce nerve root compression which can cause unilateral symptoms.
Most degenerative spinal conditions should be treated conservatively first. Surgery is obviously elective and can be done when the patient is medically fit.
Surgical treatment for LDP and lumbar spinal stenosis can be in the form of decompression with or without fusion. The main methods of fusion used are postero-lateral fusion, anterior lumbar interbody fusion, posterior lumbar interbody fusion and transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion.
This study aimed to assess the clinical and radiological results of treatment of 30 adult patients suffering from symptomatic degenerative lumbar disc disease with unilateral radiculopathy by interbody fusion using single cage supplemented by unilateral pedicle screw-rod system fixation. The indications for surgery were failure of response to conservative treatment for more than six months, or the presence or development of motor neurological deficits.
Clinically, 12 patients (40%) had excellent clinical assessment results, 15 (50%) had good results, 3 (10%) had fair results. With regards to sciatica 27 patients (90%) improved while 3 (10%) did not improve. As regards to neurological deficit, 6 patients (20%) had sensory deficits in the lower limbs, two of them had partial foot DROP while 27 patients (90%) had no neurological deficit preoperatively. Post-operatively in late follow up 30 patients (100%) had no sensory or motor deficit.
Radiologicaly, 28 patients (93.3%) showed successful fusion at the end of the follow up period. The fusion rate of 94% is comparable to most studies.
With regards to complications, 26 patients (87%) had no complications, one patient (3.3%) had wound infection that required and responded well to debridment, antibiotic therapy and daily wound care for 2 weeks and one case (3.3) had intra-operative dural tear which was managed intra-operative and showed clinical improvement with follow up. Two patients had neurological deficit grade III (due to L5 root insult) and recovered. Two cases (6%) pseudoarthrosis. There was no cases of implant failure or screw breakage.