DEGENERATIVE LUMBAR SPONDYLOLISTHESIS - RESULTS OF SURGICAL-TREATMENT

From more than 600 patients operated in the last 6 years of lumbar pathology, 19 of them had degenerative spondylolisthesis with an intact neural arch. Their ages ranged between 54 and 78 Sears (11 of them were over 65 years of age) and slightly more frequent in males. The predominant clinical symptomatology was sciatic pain and intermittent neurogenic claudication. The most frequently affected interspace was L4-L5 followed by L3-L4. The diagnosis was confirmed by CT and/or MRI. Our choice for treating this type of spondylolisthesis is a bilateral microsurgical approach with a wide laminectomy, facetectomies and foraminotomies. In some of the cases discectomy was also performed and in one of them an arthrodesis was done initially. One patient -the youngest in the group- had late progression of the spondylolisthesis needing pedicle screws and PLIF with Brantigan's cages. Another patient who was initially operated when he was 60 years old has been recently reoperated to enlarge the decompression and perform a fusion. All patients were improved and no complications ocurred in this small series.