Posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) using the bony elements of the dorsal spinal segment

Many different types of surgical technics for treating unstable degenerative spondylolisthesis of the lumbar spine has been reported. The most important part of the different procedures is to achieve a solid bony fusion between the two vertebrae. Authors report a new simple method of posterior lumbar interbody fusion in spondylolisthesis. The whole posterior segment of the mobile neural arch is removed and used for fusion. Corticospongiosus dowels and small bone chips are impacted into the disc space emptied totally before. Monosegmental transpedicular fixateur is required for stability. 33 patients with an average follow up of 20 months showed a clinical improvement of 88%. The radiologically proved fusion rate was 90%. Authors achieved good clinical outcome and high bony fusion rate with the one stage operation from posterior approach for treating lumbar spondylolisthesis.