A comparative study of spondylolisthesis in operations on adolescents and adults

Forty-five patients with spondylolisthesis have been reviewed, all operated with the same surgical procedure: dorso-lateral bilateral fusion. A comparative study was made between two age groups-adolescents (n=22) and adults (n=23). Preoperative symptoms, clinical signs and X-rays of the patients were analysed and compared with postoperative results. The symptoms observed preoperatively differ between these two age groups. In the adolescents, low back pain dominated, whereas sciatic pain did so in the adults. Scoliosis and spina bifida were only found in the younger group, but disc degeneration was, as expected, more often found in the older group. The postoperative results were improved considerably in the younger group and it is suggested that the main cause of the preoperative symptoms in these patients was instability. In the adults, on the other hand, the symptoms seemed to be less due to this instability but rather to other factors, such as disc degeneration and nerve root compression.