Kirschner wire is more effective than the nerve root retractor in treating patients with disc herniation

• We study effect of Kirschner wire and nerve root retractor on disc herniation patients.
• Kirschner wire efficiently shortens retraction time compared with nerve root retractor.
• Kirschner wire improves visual analog scales compared with nerve root retractor.
• Kirschner wire improves Japanese Orthopaedic Association scores.
• Kirschner wire is more effective in reducing nerve damage and retraction time.

ObjectiveTo investigate the value of using Kirschner wire in the intraspinal procedures.MethodsFrom May 2011 to October 2013, a total of 46 patients with a single-level lumbar disc herniation with concomitant lumbar instability were randomly assigned to two groups at the time of admission. Group 1 had 23 patients who underwent posterior lumbar fusion using a nerve root retractor to drag nerve root, and Group 2 also had 23 patients who underwent the same operation by fixing Kirschner wires in the vertebral body to drag nerve root. All of these patients were assessed with visual analog scales (VAS) and Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) scores before surgery, and were followed up at the time points of one week (VAS score only), three, six, and twelve months respectively after surgery. The actual retraction time of the nerve root of each patient was also recorded during the operation.ResultsThe differences in VAS and JOA scores were not significant between Group 1 and 2 before surgery. However, these scores showed significant improvement in Group 2 at one week and three months after surgery compared with those in Group 1. At six and twelve month follow-up time points, no significant difference was observed between these two groups. However, the retraction time of the nerve root of the patients in Group 2 was significantly shorter than in Group 1.ConclusionsUsing Kirschner wires instead of the nerve root retractor to pull nerve root in the patients with a single-level lumbar disc herniation accompanied by the lumbar instability is more effective in reducing the dragging damage of the nerve root at early phases after surgery and in shortening retraction time.