Ninety-four patients with lumbar spinal stenosis were followed for two years after undergoing either laminectomy or comprehensive medical management, and after two years laminectomy resulted in the most significant improvement of all outcome measures. Medical management failed to provide significant effectiveness. The quality-adjusted life year gained for surgery versus medical management was $56,592.
For the second study, 278 patients from 12 clinical sites participated. One hundred and sixty-nine were treated anteriorly using discectomy/corpectomy with instrumented fusion, and 95 were treated posteriorly with laminectomy and fusion. The study demonstrated that anterior and posterior surgical treatment is highly effective is preventing progression. However, the anterior techniques may be more appropriate for younger patients.
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