Background:

The goal of this study was to review relevant randomized controlled trials in order to determine the efficacy of decompression and lumbar interbody fusion in the treatment of lumbar spinal stenosis.

Method:

Using appropriate keywords, we identified relevant studies in PubMed, the Cochrane library, and Embase. Key pertinent sources in the literature were also reviewed, and all articles published through July 2019 were considered for inclusion. For each study, we assessed odds ratios, mean difference, and 95% confidence interval to assess and synthesize outcomes.

Result:

Twenty-one randomized controlled trials were eligible for this meta-analysis with a total of 3636 patients. Compared with decompression, decompression and fusion significantly increased length of hospital stay, operative time and estimated blood loss. Compared with fusion, decompression significantly decreased operative time, estimated blood loss and overall visual analogue scale (VAS) scores. Compared with endoscopic decompression, microscopic decompression significantly increased length of hospital stay, and operative time. Compared with traditional surgery, endoscopic discectomy significantly decreased length of hospital stay, operative time, estimated blood loss, and overall VAS scores and increased Japanese Orthopeadic Association score. Compared with TLIF, MIS-TLIF significantly decreased length of hospital stay, and increased operative time and SF-36 physical component summary score. Compared with multi-level decompression and single level fusion, multi-level decompression and multi-level fusion significantly increased operative time, estimated blood loss and SF-36 mental component summary score and decreased Oswestry disability index score. Compared with decompression, decompression with interlaminar stabilization significantly decreased operative time and the score of Zurich claudication questionnaire symptom severity, and increased VAS score.

Conclusion:

Considering the limited number of included studies, we still need larger-sample, high-quality, long-term studies to explore the optimal therapy for lumbar spinal stenosis.