Posterior lumbar interbody fusion for the management of spondylolisthesis

The ideal surgical treatment of spondylolisthesis still remains controversial. There are several methods of treatment and posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) is one of them. We analyze the results of spondylolisthesis treated by PLIF in term of radiological union, improvement of pre-operative symptoms like back pain, radiating pain and return to normal activities including that of employment, by the review of the medical records. Total of 72 patients, 20 male and 52 female and the age ranges from 15 to 68 years with the mean age being 44.38 years were included in the study. Thirty (41.66%) patients had isthmic spondylolisthesis, 26 (36.12%) had congenital spondylolisthesis, and 16 (22.22%) cases had degenerative spondylolisthesis. There were 38 (52.77%) cases of grade I, 14 (19.44%) cases of grade II and 20 (27.77%) cases of grade III according to the grading criteria of Meyerding. According to the evaluation criteria used by Stauffer and Coventry, 59 patients (81.94%) got good results, eight patients (11.11%) belonged to the fair group and five cases (6.94%) had the poor results. This study showed that PLIF is one of the effective and reliable techniques for the management of spondylolisthesis.