Effect of spinal fusion length on hip and knee osteoarthritis: a comparative cohort study of no fusion, short-segment fusion, and long-segment fusion
Yusuf Sülek, İsmail Demirkale, Rodi Ertoğrul, Hacı Mustafa Özdemir · 2026
Read Effect of spinal fusion length on hip and knee osteoarthritis: a comparative cohort study of no fusion, short-segment fusion, and long-segment fusion by Yusuf Sülek, İsmail Demirkale, Rodi Ertoğrul, Hacı Mustafa Özdemir (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13242482.txt.
Description
Yusuf Sülek and co-authors asked whether longer spinal fusions speed up wear in the hip and knee. Their cohort study appeared in the Archives of Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgery in 2026. They reviewed patients aged forty to sixty-five who had lumbar surgery between 2010 and 2021 at one center. Groups ranged from decompression without fusion to fusions spanning four or more vertebrae, and joint space was tracked on imaging.
Hip joint space narrowed fastest in the long-fusion group, then the short-fusion group, then the no-fusion group. Each added fused level raised the odds of severe hip narrowing, while knee wear showed no clear difference between groups. Back and hip function scores were recorded alongside the imaging. The authors advise closer hip monitoring for patients who receive extensive fusions, so degeneration is caught early. The pattern fits the idea that a stiffer spine shifts load onto the hips.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Yusuf Sülek, İsmail Demirkale, Rodi Ertoğrul, Hacı Mustafa Özdemir |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 43 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |