Degenerative lumbar spondylolisthesis with spinal stenosis. A prospective study comparing decompression with decompression and intertransverse process arthrodesis.

Fifty patients who had spinal stenosis associated with degenerative lumbar spondylolisthesis were prospectively studied clinically and radiographically to determine if concomitant intertransverse-process arthrodesis provided better results than decompressive laminectomy alone. There were thirty-six women and fourteen men. The mean age of the twenty-five patients who had had an arthrodesis was 63.5 years and that of the twenty-five patients who had not had an arthrodesis, sixty-five years. The level of the operation was between the fourth and fifth lumbar vertebrae in forty-one patients and between the third and fourth lumbar vertebrae in nine patients. The patients were followed for a mean of three years (range, 2.4 to four years). In the patients who had had a concomitant arthrodesis, the results were significantly better with respect to relief of pain in the back and lower limbs.