INTRAOPERATIVE SPINAL STIFFNESS MEASUREMENT IN MANAGEMENT OF SPINAL CANAL STENOSIS

In this study to determine whether spine stiffness is predictive of clinical results afterlumbar spinal fusion for spinal stenosis, a total of 78 patients were measured intraoperatively withkocher clamp manual distraction technique to determine motion segment stiffness then spinal fusionwas performed for any loose segment. statistical analysis revealed that stiffness measurement correlatewith clinical results of surgery. during a minimum of 2 years follow up after surgery, patients who hadloose motion segment before or after decompression and were fused had the same level of satisfactionwith surgical results as patients without loose segments and fusion. we concluded that intraoperativespinal stiffness measurement provide a good indicator to spine fusion after lumbar canal stenosissurgery.