Does adding interbody fusion to posterolateral fusion increase success in the surgical management of degenerative lumbar spondylolisthesis?

INTRODUCTION

Surgical treatment of lumbar degenerative spondylolisthesis usually involves an interbody fusion in addition to a posterolateral fusion. However, the value of this procedure has not been established.

METHODS

To answer this question we used Epistemonikos, the largest database of systematic reviews in health, which is maintained by screening multiple information sources, including MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane, among others. We extracted data from the systematic reviews, reanalyzed data of primary studies, conducted a meta-analysis and generated a summary of findings table using the GRADE approach.

RESULTS AND

CONCLUSIONS

We identified four systematic reviews, including nine primary studies; none of them randomized. We concluded performing interbody fusion in addition to posterolateral fusion during the surgical treatment of lumbar degenerative spondylolisthesis might decrease vertebral body slippage and lead to a slight improvement in quality of life. However, it is associated with higher costs.