The risk factors for low back pain following oblique lateral interbody fusion: focus on sarcopenia

Sarcopenia had been identified as a factor influencing the postoperative outcomes of lumbar surgery. The effect of sarcopenia on the surgical outcomes in patients who underwent oblique lateral interbody fusion (OLIF) had not yet been examined.

The aim of our study was to investigate the association between sarcopenia and postoperative low back pain (LBP) in patients following OLIF and provide recommendations for surgical strategy.

116 patients who underwent OLIF were retrospectively reviewed. Patients were classified into sarcopenia group (Group SP) and non-sarcopenia group (Group NSP). According to whether instruments was performed, Group SP was further divided into OLIF stand-alone group (Group SP-SA) and OLIF with instruments group (Group SP-IN). The patient characteristics, surgical data and questionnaire scores were collected. Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) score was used to evaluate lumbar function and pain intensity. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to identify the risk factors for postoperative LBP.

There were 38 patients in Group SP and 78 patients in Group NSP. The incident rare of osteoporosis in Group SP was higher than that in Group NSP (P = 0.012). In Group SP, last follow-up intervertebral height (IH) was lower (P = 0.045) and incident rate of cage subsidence was higher ((P = 0.044). No significant difference (P = 0.229) showed in preoperative ODI scores, however, last follow-up ODI scores in Group SP was significantly higher (P = 0.017) than that in Group NSP. Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that sarcopenia (P = 0.004), osteoporosis (P = 0.012) and cage subsidence (P = 0.002) were identified as risk factors for postoperative LBP. In Group SP-IN, last follow-up ODI score (P = 0.024) and incident rate of cage subsidence (P = 0.027) were significantly lower Compared to Group SP-SA.

LBP was a common complication following OLIF with the incidence rate of 18.1%. Sarcopenia, osteoporosis and cage subsidence were risk factors for LBP following OLIF. Instruments effectively reduced the incidence and degree of postoperative LBP in patients with sarcopenia following OLIF. Consequently, we suggest incorporating supplementary instruments for patients with sarcopenia in surgical strategy.