The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Vol 61, Issue 8 1143-1150, Copyright © 1979 by Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Inc
Anterior fusion of the lumbar spine. End-result study with long-term follow-up
JC Flynn and MA Hoque
We reviewed the cases of fifty patients who underwent anterior lumbar-spine
fusion with autogenous fibular and iliac-bone grafts and were followed for
two to fifteen years. Their diagnoses were instability of the spine,
degenerative disc disease, pseudarthrosis, and spondylolisthesis. Fifty-six
per cent had union and 44 per cent, non-union. Those who had iliac grafts
healed in an average of 2.5 years and those who had fibular grafts, in 5.2
years. The clinical result was successful in twenty-six patients (52 per
cent) and unsuccessful in twenty-four patients (48 per cent).
Paradoxically, about one-half of the patients with clinical successes had a
non-union and one-half of the failures had union. Retrograde ejaculation
(sterility) did not develop in any of the men, and a survey of world
authorities on anterior spine fusion revealed only sixteen patients with
the sequela of retrograde ejaculation. The incidence of that complication
has been exaggerated.
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