الفهرس 
INTRODUCTIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
The lumbar lordosis is a major key factor that determine the normal sagittal profile of the spine and the global balance, just like the cervical lordosis and thoracic kyphosis, the normal sagittal balance is important in keeping normal gait, and any deviation from the normal may result in more muscular sprain which can lead to back pain and negatively affect the quality of life.
Posterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion (PLIF) is a surgical procedure that is indicated for various spine diseases, specially spondylolisthesis, lumbar canal stenosis, and disc prolapse. It involves removal of the disc and fusion of affected vertebrae using bone graft with or without cages, and then posterior fixation of the diseased segments.
Studies have found that PLIF can affect the lumbar lordosis and sagittal profile, which will also influence postoperative long term outcome.
This study aims to assess the lumbo-sacral sagittal profile after single level PLIF and how it affect the patient quality of life and satisfaction.
The study includes 20 patients who underwent single level PLIF in 2013 at El-Hadara university hospital.
After at least one year postoperatively, all the patients underwent a history taking and clinical and radiological assessment. The Oswestry Disability index (ODI) and Visual Analogue Scale was used for the clinical assessment. While for the radiological assessment lumbar lordosis angle and local Cobb angle was measured by the way of Cobb`s method on the preoperative and postoperative supine X-rays which was obtained from the hospital records.
The obtained data was presented in tables and graphs, then the different variables was analysed using p value and Spearman correlation coefficient.
The study found that there was overall increase in lumbar lordosis angle postoperatively compared to preoperative measurements, but the p.value was not significant for this finding.
It was realized also that the ODI and VAS improved from the preoperative readings, this was found to have a statistical significant p.value.
The correlation between changes in ODI and the changes in lumbar lordosis in the preoperative and postoperative readings was found to be negatively related, so the increase in lumbar lordosiswas accompanied by a decrease in ODI and so improved quality of life, but the correlation coefficient was statistically not significant.
The same relation was found with ODI and local Cobb angle, and also was insignificant statistically.
The correlation between VAS and lumbar lordosis also was identified, and we come to realize that there is an improvement in VAS when there is an increase in lumbar lordosis, but the correlation coefficient was insignificant also for this relation.
The same relation was also true for VAS and local Cobb angle.
We believe the insignificant statistical results were due to small sample size.
from this study, we can conclude that, PLIF will lead to reduced postoperative low back pain, good quality of life and hence better patient satisfaction.