2004 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Comprehensive Analysis for the Effect of Facet Joint Immobilization on Intervertebral Disc at the Adjacent Motion-Segment
| Project/Area Number |
14571353
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Orthopaedic surgery
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| Research Institution | Saitama Medical School (2004)
Hokkaido University (2002-2003) |
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Principal Investigator |
SHIRADO Osamu Saitama Medical School, Associate Professor, 医学部, 助教授 (20206296)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
WATANABE Yasuyuki Saitama Medical School, Lecturer, 医学部, 講師 (70327055)
YASUDA Kazunori Hokkaido University, Graduate School of Medicine, Professor, 大学院・医学研究科, 教授 (20166507)
TOYAMA Harukazu Hokkaido University, Graduate School of Medicine, Associate Professor, 大学院・医学研究科, 助教授 (60301884)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2002 – 2004
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| Keywords | immobilization / facet joint / intervertebral disc / degeneration / overload / fusion / fixation |
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| Research Abstract |
The purpose of this study was to comprehensively evaluate the effect of facet joint immobilization on intervertebral disc at the immobilized and adjacent motion-segments. This study was divided into three parts ; Biomechanical and immunohistological study using live rabbit model (Study I), biomechanical study using calf lumbar spine (Study II), computational analysis using finite element method (FEM) model (Study III), and clinical cohort study on the patients with lumbar degenerative diseases that were treated conservatively and surgically (Study IV). In the Study I, Japanese white rabbits were utilized to develop the experimental model with completely immobilized facet joint. Three, six and twelve months after the surgery with immobilization, the intervertebral discs at the immobilized and adjacent motion-segments were analyzed biomechanically and immunohistologically. The disc at the adjacent motion-segment got more degenerated, and the rigidity significantly decreased, compared with the disc in the control and sham group. In the study II, the less rigid instrumentation provided favorable results to reduce the stress at the disc adjacent to the immobilized segment. In the Study III, it proved that a novel spinal instrumentation with a certain flexibility can be developed to successfully stabilize unstable motion-segments. In the Study IV, it became evident that there were a number of patients who need to prevent or avoid the spinal arthrodesis.
The further study concentrating on molecular biology is mandatory to more understand the mechanism of disc degeneration on the segment adjacent to the immobilized segment. We have future plan on the development of a novel technique preventing and managing the disc degeneration adjacent to the immobilized segment.
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