Degenrative Disc Disease

This multicenter randomized controlled trial will evaluate whether an additional preoperative study visit using the Dialogue Support (DS) tool improves patient information, expectations, and outcomes among adults scheduled for lumbar spine surgery for degenerative spinal disorders. The DS tool predicts outcomes one year after surgery based on patient characteristics and presents these estimates numerically and visually. Participants will be randomized to either one additional study visit in which DS results are presented and explained, or a control study visit during which DS will not be employed The study will assess whether the additional DS study visit influences postoperative outcomes, preoperative expectations, surgery cancellations, and cost-effectiveness. In addition, the project will externally validate the DS tool using data from the Norwegian Registry for Spine Surgery (NORspine) and assess the inter-rater reliability of DS assessments across spine surgeons.

The general objective of this project is to define the transcriptional profile of primary human cells derived from the nucleus pulposus (NP), annulus fibrosus (AF), and cartilaginous endplate (CEP), and to use this information as a reference to assess the biological relevance of a biomimetic spinal unit model obtained through bioprinting. By developing an in vitro model of human origin that incorporates key components of the spinal unit and applying transcriptional analyses to both native cells and their counterparts recovered from the 3D construct, the study will evaluate how accurately the bioprinted model reproduces the identity and heterogeneity of the native discal environment.