Abstract
We report surgical results for lumbar degenerative spondylolisthesis in 26 older patients. Posterior decompression and posterolateral fusion with Luque instrumentation were used to permit early ambulation after the surgery.
The mean age of the patients at the time of surgery was 68.3 years (range, 57-83 years). The average follow-up duration was 30 months (range, 6-96 months). The surgical outcome was evaluated using the Japanese Orthopaedic Association score (JOA score, 15 points at the maximum score). The preoperative mean JOA score was 3.8 (range, 1-8) and postoperative score was 11.5 (range, 5-15). The mean recovery rate of the JOA score was 68.8%. In this series, there was a group (4 cases) who had unacceptable recovery rates of 40% on average. They had had severe muscle weakness in ankle dorsiflexion for more than 4 months before surgery.
Our data suggest that this method is useful for the treatment of lumbar degenerative spondylolisthesis, even in the presence of osteoporosis.
