• Giuseppe Barone, Laura Scaramuzzo, Fabrizio Giudici, Francesco Manzini, Leone Minoia, Marino Archetti, and Antonino Zagra.
• Spine Surgery Division 1, IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi, Via R. Galeazzi 6, 20161, Milan, Italy. giuseppebarone.gale@gmail.com.
• Arch Orthop Trauma Surg. 2023 Jan 1; 143 (1): 9710697-106.

IntroductionPrevious short- and intermediate-term clinical and radiographic studies demonstrated good results in patients who underwent spine surgery for spondylolisthesis, long-term outcomes are lacking instead. Young patients are often involved in high-demanding and sport activities, therefore good/excellent functional outcomes are very important for their future quality of life. The aim of this study is to assess the long-term functional results in young patients surgically treated for developmental spondylolisthesis.Materials And MethodsRetrospective evaluation of consecutive patients who underwent lumbar surgery for spondylolisthesis. Inclusion criteria were: spondylolisthesis from grade 1 to spondyloptosis, age at surgery < 25 years, follow-up > 15 years. The following outcomes were assessed: VAS back, VAS leg, Oswestry disability index (ODI) score, Short Form 12 (SF-12), rate of revision surgery, postoperative recovery and sport activity.Results113 patients were enrolled. Mean age at surgery was 19.8 years and mean follow-up was 22.1 years (16-32). 16 patients (14.2%) needed revision surgery. Functional outcomes at last follow-up were: VAS back = 1.6, VAS leg = 1.4, ODI = 9.2%, SF-12 physical component summary = 50, SF-12 mental component summary = 48.7. Significant differences were assessed in terms of ODI (p = 0.047) and SF-12 PCS (p = 0.015) between group treated with instrumented and non-instrumented techniques. Among the patients who practiced a sport, 87% returned to sport postoperatively (55% at medium-high-intensity level).ConclusionThis study shows good long-term functional outcomes in patients surgically treated for developmental spondylolisthesis. After surgery, there is a low incidence of back pain, the residual disability is mild and almost half of patients recover the same level of sport activity. Instrumented surgical techniques developed over the years seem to be related to high revision rate, but this does not affect long-term functional results.© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.

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