Comparative Study of Spino-pelvic Parameters between Scoliotic versus Non-scoliotic Patients with Multi-level Degenerative Lumbar Spondylosis

Degenerative lumbar scoliosis is a multi-planner deformity seen in the aging spine. Important parameters in the evaluation of balance of the degenerative lumbar scoliosis include spino-pelvic parameters such as the LL, SS, PI, and PT besides the coronal Cobb´s angle. In order to minimize the energy associated with maintaining upright posture, sagittal balance is necessary. Significant sagittal abnormality or imbalance is commonly related to poor functional scores across multiple domains.

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the role of the spino-pelvic parameters in the development of scoliosis in multi-level degenerative lumber spondylosis disease.

Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out in Tanta University Hospitals. It included the first 100 patients who visited the outpatient orthopedic department clinic from April 2019.

Results: There was a statistically significant (p ≤ 0.05) increase in each of the PI, PT and cobb´s angle and a significant decrease in SS in multi-level DLS with scoliosis patients in correlation to multi-level DLS without scoliosis patients. There were no significant differences between LL in both studied groups.

Regarding the age, sex, BMI and occupation in the two studied groups, there were no statistically significant differences. There was a significant correlation between the sex and PT in patients with multi-level DLS without scoliosis, but there was no significant correlation between sex and other parameters in both groups. There wasn´t significant correlation between the two groups by increasing the age. Manual workers in scoliotic group show higher PT and smaller SS than in non-scoliotic group, which give a significant correlation between the occupation and these spino-pelvic parameters.

Conclusion: Importance of a thorough discussion of the risks of deformity progression weighed against the anticipated benefits with patient’s during clinical consultation return to the spino-pelvic parameters. Measurement of these spino-pelvic parameters can help in monitoring progression of disease in patients and allow physicians to provide better prevention, treatment and control.