Survivorship of Decompression Alone Vs Decomp With Fusion in DLS and LCS

Plain-language summary

There has been a long-standing controversy on the operative treatment of Degenerative Lumbar Spondylolisthesis (DLS) with Lumbar Canal Stenosis (LCS), especially whether the addition of fusion to decompression is necessary. Many believe that decompression alone (D) by either using midline preserving fenestration techniques (fenestration by laminotomy and medial facetectomy) or with a spinous process osteotomy (SPO) is enough for treatment of patients with DLS while others believe that a fusion (D+F) should be added in all cases. The study aims to determine if decompression alone performs better or worse in the long term than decompression with fusion in a large cohort of patients who have DLS with LCS. It also aims to determine if the decompression technique of midline-sparing fenestration or spinous process osteotomy make a difference to survival in cases of DLS with LCS.

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