Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Nov 26, 2020; 8(22): 5496-5500
Published online Nov 26, 2020. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v8.i22.5496
Is Dynesys dynamic stabilization system superior to posterior lumbar fusion in the treatment of lumbar degenerative diseases?
Bao-Gan Peng, Chun-Hua Gao
Bao-Gan Peng, Chun-Hua Gao, Department of Spinal Surgery, The Third Medical Center, People’s Liberation Army General Hospital, Beijing 100039, China
Author contributions: Peng BG and Gao CH conceived the idea for the manuscript and reviewed the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The author declares that he has no current financial arrangement or affiliation with any organization that may have a direct influence on his work.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Bao-Gan Peng, MD, PhD, Chief Doctor, Department of Spinal Surgery, The Third Medical Center, People’s Liberation Army General Hospital, No. 69 Yongding Road, Beijing 100039, China. pengbaogan76611@163.com
Received: June 11, 2020
Peer-review started: June 11, 2020
First decision: September 13, 2020
Revised: September 19, 2020
Accepted: October 19, 2020
Article in press: October 19, 2020
Published online: November 26, 2020
Processing time: 167 Days and 1.7 Hours
Abstract

Dynesys, a pedicle-based dynamic stabilization system, was introduced to overcome some undesirable complications of fusion procedures. Nevertheless, the theoretical advantages of Dynesys over fusion have not been clearly confirmed. The purpose of this editorial was to compare clinical and radiological outcomes of patients who underwent Dynesys system with those who underwent posterior lumbar fusion according to the existing literature and to see if the application of the Dynesys system is superior to the traditional lumbar fusion surgery. According to published clinical reports, the short-term effects of the Dynesys dynamic stabilization system are similar to that of traditional lumbar fusion surgery. Three comparative studies of Dynesys dynamic stabilization and fusion surgery with medium-term follow-up are encouraging. However, the results from four single-treatment-arm and small-sample studies of case series with long-term follow-up were not encouraging. In the present circumstances, it is not possible to conclude that the Dynesys dynamic stabilization system is superior to fusion surgery for lumbar degenerative diseases.

Keywords: Dynamic stabilization system; Lumbar fusion; Lumbar degenerative diseases; Complication

Core Tip: At present, it is not appropriate to conclude that the posterior dynamic stabilization system is superior to fusion surgery. As there are still many unresolved issues, we should not overemphasize the application of these dynamic stabilization systems in treatment of degenerative lumbar diseases.