According to a new orthopedic study conducted by researchers from the University of Toledo, lumbar spinal fusion procedures are more likely to fail in people with diabetes. This research was presented at the Lumbar Spine Research Society’s annual meeting in Chicago. Researchers say that people with diabetes have a higher risk of getting an infection after any surgery. They think this happens because diabetes affects the growth and healing ability of their bones. Healthcare professionals use screws, rods and bone grafts to join vertebrae. But a non-union complication occurs when the bones don’t properly heal together. It increases pain and sometimes needs additional surgery. This risk is higher in people with diabetes.
This study was recently published in the journal JBMR Plus. In this study, researchers involved more than 500 patients who underwent lumbar spinal fusion surgery. These surgeries were performed at The University of Toledo Medical Center between 2009 and 2017. Researchers tracked these patients and collected the data.
When researchers observed the collected data, they found that people with diabetes were nearly three times more likely to experience non-union complications as compared to those without diabetes. Researchers also found that these people were also more than two times more likely to experience additional degeneration in adjacent segments of the spine after the surgery. This usually needs an additional surgery. Researchers also studied tissues from diabetic and non-diabetic patients who had undergone additional surgeries. Then they understood how diabetes affects healing process in those patients.
One of the researchers and reputed doctor said that diabetes is not only a metabolic disease but also a bone disease. It plays a very important role in bone health. It increases the risk of disc degeneration in the lower back. That’s why people with diabetes need more spine fusion surgeries. So, experts should make some effective strategies to reduce this risk. Healthcare professionals should try to improve a patient’s bone health before or after the surgery. This can reduce the risk of lumbar spinal fusion surgery failure in patients with diabetes.
Reference Link:
Claire Wilson et al, Diabetes increases risk of lumbar spinal fusion complications: association with altered structure of newly formed bone at the fusion site, JBMR Plus (2024).
