To fuse or not to fuse in lumbar degenerative spondylolisthesis: do baseline symptoms help provide the answer?

摘要

IntroductionClinical symptoms in lumbar degenerative spondylolisthesis (LDS) vary from predominantly radiating pain to severe mechanical low back pain. We examined whether the outcome of surgery for LDS varied depending on the predominant baseline symptom and the treatment administered [decompression with fusion (D&F) or decompression alone (D)].