Adjacent segment degeneration

Last revised by Henry Knipe on 5 Jul 2023

Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data

Citation:

Gaillard F, Knipe H, Feger J, Adjacent segment degeneration. Reference article, Radiopaedia.org (Accessed on 19 Apr 2024) https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-60038

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-60038

Permalink:

https://radiopaedia.org/articles/60038

rID:

60038

Article created:

6 May 2018, Frank Gaillard ◉ ◈

Disclosures:

At the time the article was created Frank Gaillard had no recorded disclosures.

View Frank Gaillard's current disclosures

Last revised:

5 Jul 2023, Henry Knipe ◉ ◈

Disclosures:

At the time the article was last revised Henry Knipe had the following disclosures:

Integral Diagnostics, Shareholder (ongoing)
Micro-X Ltd, Shareholder (ongoing)

These were assessed during peer review and were determined to not be relevant to the changes that were made.

View Henry Knipe's current disclosures

Revisions:

5 times, by 3 contributors - see full revision history and disclosures

Systems:

Musculoskeletal, Spine

Tags:

cases, case2

Synonyms:

Adjacent segment disease (ASD)
Adjacent segment pathology (ASP)
Adjacent level disease (ALD)

Adjacent segment degeneration or adjacent level disease is a common complication of spinal fusion occurring at the adjacent unfused level above or below the fused segment.

Epidemiology

It is usually encountered in the cervical spine or lumbar spine and occurs with an incidence of 2-4% per year ⁴.

Pathology

The underlying etiology is multifactorial and likely represents the progression of pre-existing degenerative disease accelerated by changes in biomechanical forces due to fusion at the adjacent level.

Adjacent segment degeneration can co-exist with adjacent level ossification but is believed to be distinct from it.