Fluoroscopic versus CT-guided cortical bone trajectory pedicle screw fixation: Comparing trajectory related complications.

Abstract

Cortical bone trajectory (CBT) pedicle screw fixation is an emerging technique for treatment of degenerative spine disease which requires either intraoperative fluoroscopy or intraoperative CT guidance (iCT). To date, there has been no direct comparison of these two navigation modalities; here we compare fluoroscopic versus iCT navigation for CBT pedicle screw fixation. We retrospectively reviewed all patients who underwent CBT screw fixation with either fluoroscopic or iCT guidance for lumbar degenerative disease by the senior author. Trajectory-related complications such as medial or lateral breach were compared on postoperative CT, in addition to the incidence of trajectory-related dural tear. We also compared general surgical complications such as postoperative infection and decompression related durotomies. Thirty-eight patients (19 fluoroscopic, 19 CT-guided) who underwent placement of 182 cortical screws (88 fluoroscopic, 94 CT-guided) were identified. In terms of trajectory-related complications, the iCT cohort had fewer medial breaches (1/94) compared to the fluoroscopic cohort (6/88) (p = 0.05). Each group had one lateral breach (p = 0.73). There was one case of CSF leak from screw placement in the fluoroscopic cohort, but none in the iCT cohort (p = 0.48). Overall, there were eight trajectory-related complications in the fluoroscopic cohort versus two in the iCT cohort (p = 0.04). Our data suggests statistically significant decreased trajectory-related complications with iCT-guided CBT screw fixation as compared to fluoroscopically guided. In terms of general surgical complications, while we observed increased postoperative infections in our fluoroscopic cohort, there was no statistically significant difference.

• Authors: Kevin K Kumar, Bhavya Parikh, Rashad Jabarkheel, Benjamin Dirlikov, Harminder Singh
• Journal: Journal of clinical neuroscience : official journal of the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia (J Clin Neurosci) Vol. 89 Pg. 354-359 (Jul 2021) ISSN: 1532-2653 [Electronic] Scotland
• PMID: 34088578 (Publication Type: Comparative Study, Journal Article)
• Copyright: Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Topics

• Adult
• Cortical Bone (surgery)
• Fluoroscopy (adverse effects, methods)
• Humans
• Lumbar Vertebrae (surgery)
• Middle Aged
• Pedicle Screws (adverse effects)
• Postoperative Complications (epidemiology, etiology)
• Retrospective Studies
• Spinal Fusion (adverse effects, instrumentation, methods)
• Surgery, Computer-Assisted (adverse effects, methods)
• Tomography, X-Ray Computed (adverse effects, methods)