PURPOSE:

While spinal instrumentations are becoming more common, the advantages of elective spinal implant removal remain ambiguous. We hypothesized that elective implant removal of the posterior spine is beneficial.

METHODS:

A retrospective study evaluated 137 consecutive trauma patients with elective implant removal of the posterior spine. If additional cages were present, they were not removed. Primary outcomes were the change in pre- and post-operative pain, fingertip-floor distance (FFD), and Cobb angles. Some secondary outcomes consisted of complications, work disability, and pelvic incidence (PI). Different stabilization approaches and cage sizes were compared.

RESULTS:

The presence and amount of pain as well as the FFD showed significant improvement.

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