The study includes 654 patients with lumbar spinal stenosis who were enrolled in the Spine Patient Outcomes Research Trial. The patients either had mild, moderate or severe stenosis based on classification 12 weeks prior to enrolment. Here are five key findings from the study:
1. There were 66 percent of patients who had a positive sedimentation sign.
2. The patients with positive sedimentation were more likely to have stenosis at L2-L3 than the other patients. There were 33 percent of the sedimentation sign patients with stenosis, compared to 10 percent who did not.
3. The sedimentation patients were also more likely to have severe central stenosis. There were 72 percent of the sedimentation patients who had severe stenosis, compared to 33 percent of the non-sedimentation patients. There were 93 percent of the sedimentation patients who had central stenosis, compared to 67 percent of the non-sedimentation patients.
4. Among sedimentation patients, 57 percent had stenosis at two or more concurrent levels, as opposed to 18 percent in the non-sedimentation group.
5. The surgical treatment effect was significantly larger in the post-sedimentation sign group for ODI. “A positive sedimentation sign was associated with a small but significantly greater surgical treatment effect for Oswestry Disability Index in patients with symptomatic LSS, after adjusting for other demographic and imaging features,” concluded the study authors. “These findings suggest that positive sedimentation sign may potentially be a useful adjunct to help guide an informed treatment choice regarding surgery for LSS.”
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