Abstract
We report a very rare case with bilateral hypoplasia of the lumbar vertebral arch. A twenty-year-old man consulted us complaining of low back pain. The patient did not remember any severe trauma causing the low back and had never engaged in strenuous sports activities. Neurological examination was normal. X-ray of the anteroposterior view detected bone defect on the bilateral vertebral arch of the second lumbar vertebra. The tomography and 3D-CT clearly demonstrated that the lumbar vertebral arch did not connect to the vertebral body. There was clear instability between the second and third lumbar vertebras. We performed laminectomy of the second lumbar vertebral arch and postero-lateral fusion of L2-L3. In this case, the hypoplasia of the lumbar vertebral arch was caused by the failure of the ossification process.
