Biomechanical effects of pedicle screw fixation on adjacent segments

Various biomechanical investigations have attempted to clarify the aetiology of adjacent segment disease (ASD). However, no biomechanical study has examined in detail the deformation behaviour of the adjacent segments when both pure torque and an angular displacement load are applied to the vertebrae along multiple segments. The purpose of this study is to investigate the biomechanical effects of pedicle screw fixation on adjacent segments. Ten cadaveric lumbar spines (L2–L5) of boars were used. Control and fusion models were prepared by disc damage and pedicle screw fixation of each specimen, and then, bending and rotation tests were performed using a six-axis material tester. In the biomechanical tests regulated by an angular displacement load, the range of motion (ROM) of the cranial and caudal adjacent segments in antero-posterior flexion and lateral bending was increased by about 20 % (p < 0.05), and the maximal torque in the fusion model was about threefold (p < 0.05) that in the control model. And in axial rotation, the ROM of cranial and caudal adjacent segments was increased by about 100 % (p < 0.001), and the maximal torque was about sixfold (p < 0.01) that in the control model. The ROM of adjacent segments was significantly increased after pedicle screw fixation as assessed by biomechanical tests regulated by an angular displacement load, but not in those regulated by torque. We present the results of biomechanical tests regulated by torque and angular displacement and show that the maximum torque of the fusion model was larger than that of the control model in the biomechanical test regulated by an angular displacement load, suggesting that mechanical stress on the segments adjacent to the fused segment is large. We think that ASD arises after spinal fusion surgery as a mechanism to compensate for the ROM lost due to excessive fusion by pedicle screw fixation, so that a large torque may be applied to adjacent segments within a physiologically possible range, and it might gradually lead to a degenerative intervertebral disc or progression of spondylolisthesis in the adjacent segments.