Journal of spinal disorders
-
Case Reports Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
The role of fusion and instrumentation in the treatment of degenerative spondylolisthesis with spinal stenosis.
Between February 1985 and March 1990 44 patients with degenerative spondylolisthesis underwent primary surgery for spinal stenosis (in all cases the decompression preserved the facets bilaterally without discectomy) and were studied prospectively. Forty-three patients have been followed for > or = 2 years and are the basis of this study. ⋯ There was significantly more spondylolisthesis progression in groups I and II than in group III (p = 0.001). A higher proportion of "spondylolisthesis unchanged subjects" reported they were helped by the surgery than those whose spondylolisthesis progressed postoperatively (p < 0.01).