Comparative clinical efficacy and safety of cortical bone trajectory screw fixation and traditional pedicle screw fixation in posterior lumbar fusion: a systematic review and meta-analysis

PurposeTo compare the clinical efficacy and safety between cortical bone trajectory (CBT) and pedicle screw (PS) in posterior lumbar fusion surgery.MethodsFive electronic databases were used to identify relevant studies comparing the clinical efficacy and safety between CBT and PS. The main outcomes were postoperative fusion rates and complication (especially in superior facet joint violations, symptomatic ASD, wound infection, dural tear, screw malposition and hematoma). The secondary results included operation time, intraoperative blood loss, length of hospital stay, incision length, ODI, VAS, JOA score, JOA recovery rate, patients' satisfaction and health-related quality of life.ResultsThe outcomes showed that there was no significant difference in terms of fusion rate (p=0.55), back and leg VAS score (p>0.05), JOA score (p=0.08) and incidence of reoperation (p=0.07). However, CBT was superior to PS with Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) (p=0.02), JOA recovery rate (p<0.00001) and patients' satisfaction (p=0.001). In addition, CBT was superior to PS with significantly lower incidence of superior facet joint violation and symptomatic ASD. However, there was no significant difference regarding wound infection (p>0.05) and screw malposition (p>0.05). CBT group required significant shorter operation time, less blood loss, shorter incision length and shorter length of hospital stay in comparison with PS group (p<0.05).ConclusionsBoth CBT and PS achieve similar, fusion rate and revision surgery rate. Furthermore, CBT is superior to PS with lower incidence of complications, shorter operation time, less blood loss, shorter incision length and shorter length of hospital stay.Graphical abstractThese slides can be retrieved under Electronic Supplementary Material. [GRAPHICS] .