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Two-year outcome comparison of decompression in 14 lipomatosis cases with 169 degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis cases: a Swiss prospective multicenter cohort study

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Abstract

Purpose

Spinal epidural lipomatosis (SEL) is defined as an abnormal and extensive accumulation of unencapsulated adipose tissue within the spinal epidural space. To date, there is a lack of high-level evidence studies reporting the outcome of surgical treatment of symptomatic SEL in patients with lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS). The aim was to compare clinical outcomes in patients with symptomatic LSS with and without SEL who underwent decompression surgery alone at the 12- and 24-month follow-up.

Methods

One hundred and eighty-three patients met the inclusion criteria, of which 14 had mainly SEL on at least one level operated in addition to possible degenerative changes on other levels and 169 degenerative LSS only. The main outcomes were pain (Spinal Stenosis Measure (SSM) symptoms), disability (SSM function), and quality of life [EQ-5D-3L summary index (SI)] at 24-month follow-up, and minimal clinically important difference (MCID) in SSM symptoms, SSM function, and EQ-5D-3L SI.

Results

The multiple regression linear models showed that SEL was associated with worse SSM symptoms (p = 0.045) and EQ-5D-3L SI scores (p = 0.026) at 24-month follow-up, but not with worse SSM function scores. Further, depression (in all models) was negatively associated with better clinical outcomes at 24-month follow-up. In the outcomes SSM symptoms and EQ-5D-3L SI, distinctly more patients in the classical LSS group reached MCID than in the SEL group (71.3% and 62.3% vs. 50.0% and 42.9%).

Conclusions

Our study demonstrated that decompression alone surgery was associated with significant improvement in disability in both groups at 2 years, but not in pain and quality of life in patients with SEL.

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Author notes

  1. Drs. Nils H. Ulrich and Isaac Gravestock contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Horten Centre for Patient Oriented Research and Knowledge Transfer, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Nils H. Ulrich, Isaac Gravestock, Maria M. Wertli, Giuseppe Pichierri, Johann Steurer & Jakob M. Burgstaller

  2. Institute of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Sebastian Winklhofer & Iliya Peyneshki

  3. Division of General Internal Medicine, Bern University Hospital, Bern University, Bern, Switzerland

    Maria M. Wertli

  4. Department of Orthopedics and Neurosurgery, Spine Center, Schulthess Clinic, Zurich, Switzerland

    Tamás F. Fekete & François Porchet

  5. University Spine Centre Zurich, Balgrist University Hospital, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Nils H. Ulrich & Mazda Farshad

  6. Institute for Primary Care, University and University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Giuseppe Pichierri & Jakob M. Burgstaller

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  1. Nils H. Ulrich
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Correspondence to Nils H. Ulrich.

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Appendix

Appendix

See Tables

Table 5 Multiple linear regression model for SSM function at 24-month follow-up
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Table 6 Multiple linear regression model for SSM symptoms at 24-month follow-up
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Table 7 Multiple linear regression model for EQ-5D-3L SI at 24-month follow-up
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7.

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Ulrich, N.H., Gravestock, I., Winklhofer, S. et al. Two-year outcome comparison of decompression in 14 lipomatosis cases with 169 degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis cases: a Swiss prospective multicenter cohort study. Eur Spine J 29, 2243–2253 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00586-020-06449-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00586-020-06449-w

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