EVALUATION OF SURGICAL MANAGEMENT OF SPONDYLOLISTHESIS IN LUMBAR SPINE WITH PEDICLE SCREW ROD FIXATION AND POSTEROLATERAL FUSION- A OBSERVATIONAL STUDY

Abstract

Background: Incidence of spondylolisthesis in general population is 5% - 7%. No matter what the etiology is, patients usually have significant functional disability. Few studies have investigated the long term effect of posterolateral fusion on functional outcome. Objective: To assess the corrections of slip angle and meyerding grading after application of pedicle screw fixation and finally observed the neurological outcome & complications of the instrumentation and its efficacy. Methodology: It’s a Cross sectional observational study. On an average 20 cases of spondylolisthesis are admitted in Gandhi Hospital in a year. 20 patients were admitted to this hospital. Among these 20 cases 12 cases were selected for pedicle screw fixation and posterolateral fusion. The material for this study was selected from the initial 12 out of 20 cases where we performed pedicle screw fixation and posterolateral fusion for spondylolisthesis treatment during the period of 2008-2010. Results: In our study, we have cases with age ranging from 35-60 yrs. The average age of presentation in 45 yrs. Postoperatively we had 6 cases of grade 2 with return to grade one and 2 cases remained grade 2 and 3 cases with grade 1 remained grade 1 with reduced displacement. One case of grade 3 return to grade 2. In our study, we had patients slip angles ranging from 10-50o with 8 cases having slip angles from 25-50o and 3 cases having slip angles from 10-30o and case had 55 o slip angle initially. In our study we had 10% neurological defects post operatively. Conclusion: Posteriolateral fusion is still a safe, promising and appealing technique.