Efficacy and Safety of the Use of Interspinous Spacers in the Treatment of Lumbar Spinal Stenosis: Mapping Gap and Scoping Review

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OBJECTIVES: Low back pain is a common pathology in the general population. In people over 60 years of age, it is associated with degenerative changes that cause narrowing of the vertebral canal. Its treatment includes conservative measures and even surgery with decompression and fusion. In those patients with moderate symptoms, the use of interspinous spacers emerged as a minimally invasive therapeutic option. This scoping review seeks to map the existing literature on the use of interspinous spacers and identify knowledge gaps to clarify their real position in the stepwise approach to low back pain. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study as a scoping review, conducted in accordance with the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) methodology and reported following the PRISMA-ScR guidelines. The type of synthesis chosen was descriptive and mapping-based, allowing for the inclusion of diverse study designs (randomized controlled trials, observational studies, case series, clinical guidelines, and relevant reviews) to capture a comprehensive overview of the field. This approach was selected because the existing literature is heterogeneous in terms of intervention protocols, clinical outcomes, and follow-up duration, and the effectiveness and indications for interspinous spacers (ISD) remain controversial. The search was extended from the inception of the databases until November 2025. The program "Rayyan" was used to collect the information and facilitate the analysis process. Each of the authors independently reviewed the summary of all the articles found and applied the following inclusion criteria: systematic review, clinical trials, observational studies, and case series. EXCLUSION: articles in cadavers or made in the laboratory. RESULTS: A total of 522 articles were found in the databases consulted, of which 95 duplicate articles were eliminated. The criteria (Inclusion/Exclusion) were applied to the 427 identified articles based on the independent reading of the abstracts by each of the authors in the Rayyan platform, and 110 articles were excluded. The 317 selected articles were reviewed completely by each of the authors to finally obtain 101 articles included in the review. CONCLUSIONS: The use of ISD in the treatment of moderate LSS may be controversial. Although the clinical results seem conclusive about the usefulness in controlling symptoms, more studies are needed to compare these technologies with new surgical procedures and especially new biomechanical concepts. The efforts made to treat patients with moderate LSS appropriately should continue to be channeled into optimizing techniques.

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