We reviewed 57 patients who were operated on for degenerative lumbar canal stenosis and evaluated them clinically and radiographically.
The surgical method was decompressive wide laminectomy with posterolateral fusion (28 patients) and without posterolateral fusion (29 patients).
The mean age of patients at operation was 53 years in the cases with fusion and was 59 years in the cases without fusion. They were followed up for an age of 103 months.
The average postoperative JOA score of patients with fusion was 15.5 points and that without fusion was 15.5 points. There was no statistical significance of JOA score between with the groups and without fusion.
Acquired spondylolysis was found in 5 patients in the group without fusion, but there were no cases of acquired spondylolysis in patients with fusion.
The width of decompression in 5 patients with spondylolysis was greater than that in patients without spondylolysis.
We suggest that posterolateral fusion is a useful method for preventing postoperative instability in patients with excessive bony decompression.
