Evaluation of spinopelvic balance among patients undergoing surgical treatment for lumbar disk hernia()()

OBJECTIVE: to evaluate spinopelvic balance using the pelvic incidence, sacral slope and pelvic tilt among patients with lumbar disk hernias who underwent surgical treatment. METHODS: thirty patients at the spinal services of Hospital Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Vitória and Hospital Vila Velha were evaluated by measuring their spinopelvic balance from the angles of pelvic tilt, sacral slope and pelvic incidence, with their respective means, on simple lateral-view lumbopelvic radiographs that needed to encompass the lumbar spine, sacrum and proximal third of the femur. RESULTS: the spinopelvic balance measurements obtained from the mean angles of the population studied, for pelvic incidence, sacral slope and pelvic tilt, were 45°, 36.9° and 8.1°, respectively. The confidence interval for the mean pelvic incidence was from 41.9 to 48.1 (95% CI), thus including a reference value that characterized it as low, for an asymptomatic population, thus confirming that the sample was extracted from a population with this characteristic. CONCLUSION: among these patients with lumbar disk hernias who underwent surgical treatment, the average spinopelvic balance was found to have pelvic incidence lower than what has been reported in the literature for an asymptomatic population.