Studies of an L-rod sublaminar wire spinal fusion

The spine of a 25-year-old man with Duchenne muscular dystrophy was studied postmortem, 8 years after spine fusion with L-rods and sublaminar wires. The fusion was solid. Instrumentation appeared to have had no adverse effects on the spinal cord or meninges or in the epidural space. When wire removal from the spinal canal and fusion mass was studied, increased penetration of the wires into the spinal canal was noted.