Minimally invasive lumbar fusion versus conventional open lumbar fusion in the treatment of patients with spondylolisthesis.

Spondylolisthesis is a relatively frequent pathology of the spine, in which patients usually present with radicular leg pain, with or without low back pain. Whenever the complaints are persistent and invalidating, patients will be offered surgery. The most common procedure is the conventional instrumented surgery with bilateral muscle dissection, decompression of the nerve roots, and correction of the spondylolsthesis with pedicle screw fixation and intercorporal fusion with cages. The last decade, minimally invasive surgery is popularized whereby percutaneous pedicle screws are placed and the nerve roots are decompressed through a small median incision. The rationale of minimally invasive surgery is less muscle damage, reduced postoperative low back pain, and faster recovery. However, until now no randomized controlled trial has been performed on patients with spondylolisthesis, in which minimally invasive fusion is compared with conventional open surgery.

Patients treated with MIS will document lower back pain scores on VAS at the short-term follow-up (first 6 weeks after surgery) as compared to open surgery.

baseline, 2 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months, and 24 months postoperative.

Minimally invasive lumbar pedicle screw fixation with interbody fusion, versus open conventional pedicle screw fixation with interbody fusion.