INTRODUCTION: pedicular dynamic stabilization has been used, since the 1990's, for treatment of degenerative lumbar diseases as an alternative to fusion methods. Due to its non-fusion features, these implants tend to reduce the load to the adjacent intervertebral discs and in the posterior column, aiming at not affecting the spine biomechanics, thus decreasing the chance of adjacent disc degeneration. OBJECTIVE: the purpose of this retrospective study was to evaluate the quality of life, by means of SF-36 questionnaires, of patients who underwent pedicular dynamic stabilization for treatment of degenerative lumbar pathology. METHODS: thirty-one patients who were submitted to pedicular dynamic stabilization were evaluated, from April 2004 to June 2008, using the SF-36 quality of life questionnaire. RESULTS: the SF-36 index showed an improvement in the quality of life of these patients during the follow-up period, ranging from 33.15% preoperatively to 75.99% in postoperatively, showing a difference of 129% in the result, which is statistically significant according to the Student's t test (p<0,0001). CONCLUSIONS: patients submitted to dynamic pedicular stabilization in our series showed an improvement in quality of life when comparing the pre and postoperative SF-36 questionnaires during the 29.5 months follow-up period.
Low back pain; Stabilization; Joint instability; Questionnaires
