BackgroundInterspinous spacers are a minimally invasive surgical alternative for
patients with lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) unresponsive to conservative
care. The purpose of this prospective, multicenter, randomized, controlled
trial was to compare 2-year clinical outcomes in patients with moderate LSS
treated with the Superion® (Experimental) or the X-Stop®, a
FDA-approved interspinous spacer (Control).MethodsA total of 250 patients with moderate LSS unresponsive to conservative care
were randomly allocated to treatment with the Experimental
(n = 123) or Control (n = 127) interspinous spacer
and followed through 2 years post-treatment. Complication data were
available for all patients and patient-reported outcomes were available for
192 patients (101 Experimental, 91 Control) at 2 years.ResultsZurich Claudication Questionnaire (ZCQ) Symptom Severity and Physical
Function scores improved 34% to 36% in both groups through 2 years (all
p < 0.001). Patient Satisfaction scores at 2 years were
1.8 ± 0.9 with Experimental and 1.6 ± 0.8
with Control. Axial pain decreased from 59 ± 26 mm at
baseline to 21 ± 26 mm at 2 years with
Experimental and from 55 ± 26 mm to
21 ± 25 mm with Control (both
p < 0.001). Extremity pain decreased from
67 ± 24 mm to 14 ± 22 mm at
2 years with Experimental and from 63 ± 24 mm to
18 ± 23 mm with Control (both
p < 0.001). Back function assessed with the Oswestry
Disability Index similarly improved with Experimental
(37 ± 12% to 18 ± 16%) and Control
(39 ± 12% to 20 ± 16%) (both
p < 0.001). Freedom from reoperation at the index level was
84% for Experimental and 83% for Control (log-rank: p = 0.38) at
2 years.ConclusionsBoth interspinous spacers effectively alleviated pain and improved back
function to a similar degree through 2 years in patients with moderate
LSS who were unresponsive to conservative care.Trial registrationNCT00692276.
PurposeThis report provides the 3-year clinical outcomes from the randomized, controlled US Food and Drug Administration Investigational Device Exemption trial of the Superion® for the treatment of moderate degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis.Patients and methodsThe Superion® was evaluated in the treatment of subjects aged 45 years or older suffering from symptoms of intermittent neurogenic claudication, secondary to a confirmed diagnosis of moderate degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis at one or two contiguous levels from L1 to L5. Patients were treated between June 2008 and December 2011 at 31 investigational sites. Three hundred ninety-one subjects were included in the randomized study group consisting of 190 Superion® and 201 X-STOP® control subjects. The primary composite endpoint was individual patient success based on four components: improvement in two of three domains of the Zurich Claudication Questionnaire, no reoperations at the index level, no major implant/procedure-related complications, and no clinically significant confounding treatments.ResultsAt 3 years, the proportion of subjects achieving the primary composite endpoint was greater for Superion® (63/120, 52.5%) than for X-STOP® (49/129, 38.0%) (P=0.023) and the corresponding success rates exceeded 80% for each of the individual components of the primary endpoint in the Superion® group (range: 81%–91%). Improvements in back and leg pain severity as well as back- and disease-specific functional outcomes were also maintained through 36 months.ConclusionThe 3-year outcomes from this randomized controlled trial demonstrate durable clinical improvement consistently across all clinical outcomes for the Superion® in the treatment of patients with moderate degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis.
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