Anterior fusion of the lumbar spine. End-result study with long-term follow-up
Flynn-JC; Hoque-MA J-Bone-Joint-Surg-Am. 1979 Dec; 61(8): 1143-50 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.
Original Text by Clifford R. Wheeless, III, MD.
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