The Influence of Spondylolisthesis Reduction on the Adjacent Lumbar Segment

1. Patients

After approval from the Institutional Review Board (Approval no. BLIND FOR REVIEW), consecutive patients who underwent single-level OLIF for L4-5 or L5-S1 lumbar spondylolisthesis (slip more than 3 mm) from December 2020 to February 2023 were retrospectively reviewed. A total of 40 patients (M:F = 12:28, age 66.6±10.4 years) were included in the analysis. Preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans were reviewed, and patients were divided into two groups based on mild to moderate central stenosis at the cranial adjacent segment (stenosis vs. no-stenosis groups). The stenosis grades were based on the separation degree of the cauda equina on T2-weighted axial images: grade 0 = no lumbar stenosis without obliteration of anterior cerebrospinal fluid space; grade 1 = mild stenosis with separation of all cauda equina; grade 2 = moderate stenosis with some cauda equina aggregated13). Lumbar central stenosis in the cranial adjacent segment was present in 16 patients (stenosis group) and absent in 24 patients. OLIF in one position was performed on all patients under the guidance of spinal navigation (OLIF-one). Postoperatively, patients were encouraged to ambulate from the day of surgery and discharged 3 to 4 days later. Indirect decompression was confirmed with MRI on postoperative day 1. Patients were scheduled to visit at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months postoperatively. This study had Institutional Review Board approval, and the need to obtain informed patient consent was waived.

2. Clinical and Radiological Parameters

Clinical parameters (numeric rating score of back pain [NRS-B, /10], leg pain [NRS-L, /10], and the Korean version of the Oswestry Disability Index [ODI, /100%]) and radiological parameters (pelvic incidence [PI], sacral slope [SS], pelvic tilt [PT], lumbar lordosis from L1-L5 [LL], C7-sagittal vertical axis [C7-SVA], SA at the index level [SA-index], SA at the adjacent segment [SA-cranial], horizontal distance of the index level from the S1-plumb line [distance], and the spinal canal area at the index level [Area-index], and adjacent level [Area-cranial]) were longitudinally compared between groups (Fig. 1). The radiological measurements were measured without information about patients and groups in 200% magnified images by a blind reviewer.

Fig. 1.

Radiological measurements. (A) Pelvic parameters (pelvic incidence [PI], sacral slope [SS], and pelvic tilt [PT]) were measured from the center of both femur heads to the center of the upper endplate of S1. Lumbar lordosis (LL) from L1-5, segmental angle (SA) at the index level (SA-index), and SA at the cranial adjacent segment (SA-cranial) were measured using Cobb’s method. The horizontal distance of the index level from the S1-plumb line (distance) and C7-sagittal vertical axis (C7-SVA) were measured from the center of the upper vertebral body of spondylolisthesis and center of C7 to the vertical line of the posterior superior corner of S1. (B) The area of the spinal canal was measured in an axial image.

3. The Surgical Procedure of OLIF-one

The patient was placed in a 90° right lateral decubitus position under general anesthesia. The patient was located at the lateral margin of the table to facilitate the insertion of pedicle screws in the lateral position (Fig. 2). Percutaneous pedicle screws (Longitude; Medtronic, Memphis, TN, USA) were inserted posteriorly under spinal navigation guidance (O-arm surgical navigation; Medtronic). After inserting the pedicle screws, the anterolateral lumbar disc was approached via an anterior retroperitoneal trajectory under the guidance of spinal navigation. The disc space was cleared with Cobb’s elevator, reamer, and curettes. After the preparation of cranial and caudal endplates, serial trial cages were inserted to restore disc height. The insertion of serial trial cages loosened the tight disc space and facet joint and made the spondylolisthesis mobile. Next, the spondylolisthesis was reduced with the pedicle/screw system. After spondylolisthesis reduction, set screws were not inserted to allow the vertebra to slide along the rod during insertion of the interbody cage. Anteriorly, the anterior margin of the cranial and caudal vertebra was identified under surgical vision, and the disc space was cleaned again. The interbody cage was then inserted into the disc space. Thereafter, the pedicle screw/rod system was finally assembled with set screws.

Fig. 2.

The position of patients and application of retractors and instruments. The patient was positioned at the lateral end margin of the table in a 90° lateral position. The pedicle screws and interbody cage were inserted in one position.

4. Statistical Analysis

All continuous data were presented as mean ± standard deviation, and non-continuous data were presented with numbers (proportion). Continuous parameters were compared with Student’s t-test or Mann-Whitney U test, and non-continuous parameters were compared with the χ² test. Patients’ demographic characteristics (age, sex, body mass index [BMI; kg/m²], surgical level [L4-5 vs. L5-S1]), clinical parameters, and radiological parameters were compared between groups. Clinical and radiological parameters were longitudinally compared within and between the groups using a linear mixed-effect model. The fixed effects were the group, time (1, 3, 6, and 12 months after the operation), the interaction between group and time, preoperative parameters, and patient’s age, sex, BMI and the level of spondylolisthesis if those were statistically significant variables. The random effect was the subject. If the overall time effect was significant in the mixed-effect model, the difference between times was compared using the Bonferroni method. All analyses were conducted using SAS version 9.4 (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA), and significance was defined as p less than 0.05 (two-tailed).

Case Illustration

A 74-year-old male patient visited with intermittent neurogenic claudication (distance 100 m) for 3 years (ODI/NRS-B/NRS-L, 71%/10/7). MRI and X-rays showed spondylolisthesis at L4-5 and moderate stenosis at L3-4 (Fig. 4). OLIF-one surgery was performed at L4-5, and postoperative MRI showed realigned spondylolisthesis at L4-5 and improved stenosis at L3-4. The preoperative SA at the index level (L4-5) was 16.2°, increasing to 18°. The distance from the S1 plumb line decreased from 41 to 35 mm. SA-cranial changed from 9° to 4°. In postoperative 1 month, the patient could walk more than 2 km (ODI/NRS-B/NRS-L, 40%/5/4).

Fig. 4.

Preoperative and postoperative images. (A) Preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) shows spondylolisthesis at L4-5 and moderate stenosis at L4-5. The ligamentum flavum at L4-5 is buckled (arrow). (B) Postoperative MRI shows re-aligned spondylolisthesis at L4-5 and disappearance of buckling at L3-4 (arrow). (C) Preoperative X-ray shows spondylolisthesis at L4-5. The preoperative segmental angle (SA) at the index level (L4-5) was 16.2° and the distance from the S1 plumb line was 41 mm. (D) Postoperative X-ray shows re-aligned spondylolisthesis at L4-5. The SA at the index level increased to 18° and the distance from the S1 plumb line decreased to 35 mm. The SA at the adjacent segment changed from 9° to 4°.

1. Surgical Treatment of Lumbar Spondylolisthesis

When nonsurgical treatment failed, surgical treatment was recommended for patients with spondylolisthesis3,5). Surgical treatment includes decompression only or decompression and fusion.3,5) Usually, adding fusion was recommended when instability was also present or anterior slippage was more than 3 mm3,5). This study included patients with anterior slippage of more than 3 mm, and fusion surgery was indicated. The reduction of spondylolisthesis during surgery may be a matter of debate due to the difficulty of the surgical procedure and potential nerve root injury resulting from the reduction of spondylolisthesis33). When the spinal canal is directly decompressed in posterior lumbar interbody or transforaminal interbody fusion, reduction may not be essential. However, when the spinal canal and neural foramen are indirectly decompressed by restoring the disc and foraminal height (the main characteristics of OLIF), spondylolisthesis is reduced to the best extent by using a pedicle and rod system for effective indirect decompression6,10,14,22,24). Therefore, reduction was routine practice in the OLIF procedure. In the present study, decompression at the neural foramen and spinal canal was confirmed with postoperative MRI, and no case necessitated additional direct decompression.

2. Issues of Adjacent Segment Degeneration

ASD is a major cause for a second operation after lumbar spinal fusion surgery8,29). A systematic review revealed that the incidence of radiologically diagnosed adjacent segment degeneration ranged from 5.3% to 100% during 36 to 369 months of follow-up. The incidence of symptomatic ASD ranged from 5.2% to 18.5% during 44.8 to 164 months of follow-up21,32). Okuda et al.20) and Toivonen et al.29) demonstrated that the rates of radiologically assessed adjacent segment degeneration at 2, 5, and 10 years were 19%, 49%, and 79%, respectively, after primary posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) surgery. Several potential risk factors are linked to the progression of adjacent segment degeneration, such as age, genetic factors, pre-existing adjacent segment degeneration or stenosis, laminectomy at the adjacent level of fusion, osteoporosis, and poor sagittal balance8,29). In addition, remaining pre-existing adjacent segment stenosis may limit recovery after surgery for spondylolisthesis34). Because pre-existing adjacent segment degeneration may be a poor prognostic factor, the adjacent level may be decompressed or fused during surgery at the index level2,28).

However, pre-emptive decompression at the adjacent segment may not always help reduce ASD. Hikata et al.9) showed that simultaneous decompression surgery did not reduce the incidence of symptomatic adjacent segment degeneration. In addition, decompression surgery at the adjacent segment may cause iatrogenic instability and accelerate adjacent segment degeneration, ultimately leading to ASD1,16,23). Sears et al.27) and Lai et al.11) demonstrated that laminectomy at the adjacent level increased the relative risk of degeneration by 4 times and reoperation by 2.4 times compared with patients without laminectomy at the adjacent level. Regarding the influence of pre-existing mild stenosis at the adjacent segment, Matsumoto et al.17) also showed that the clinical recovery rate and reoperation rate were not significantly different between patients with and without simultaneous adjacent segment decompression.

3. Demand for Hyperextension Based on Spinal Alignment

Each lumbar segment contributes to lumbar lordosis12,26). Essentially, the demand is normally distributed across multiple functional spine units (FSUs)12). However, when a segment malfunctions, the demand is concentrated on the other FSUs, especially on the adjacent level, and this seems to accelerate the degenerative process at the adjacent level23). Patients with ASD showed significantly smaller LL and SS and significantly larger PT than patients without ASD28). This finding implies that ASD may be affected by spinal balance28). The cranial adjacent segment may hyper-extend to compensate for the loss of segmental lordosis and anterior slipping due to spondylolisthesis. Therefore, the demand in the adjacent segment may decrease when spondylolisthesis and a decreased SA are restored after surgery (Fig. 5). Although this hypothesis was not verified in a longitudinal prospective study and mechanical stress analysis, the current study showed that the decreased demand improved the SA and spinal stenosis by the release of ligamentum flavum buckling. The untouched adjacent segment with mild to moderate stenosis did not influence the clinical outcomes. This finding may support the importance of realigning spondylolisthesis to reduce stress at the adjacent segment.

4. Advantages of Minimally Invasive Surgery

Mimura et al.18) showed that open PLIF had a 3.97 times higher risk (odds ratio, 3.97; 95% confidence interval, 1.02-15.48; p = 0.04) of developing ASD than minimally invasive PLIF. Approach-related factors may influence the development of ASD, along with other factors7,15,18,21,24). The advantage of minimally invasive pedicle screw fixation, which is the surgical technique of OLIF, is less injury to the multifidus muscle and medial branch of the dorsal ramus, which innervates the multifidus muscle15,18). Therefore, the advantage of reducing spondylolisthesis may be potentiated by reducing injury to the adjacent segment muscle and facet joints with minimally invasive surgery such as OLIF.

5. Limitations

Although this study presents a hypothesis regarding the ability of spondylolisthesis realignment to reduce demand at the cranial adjacent segment, it has several limitations.

First, this study was retrospective one, and the limited number of patients and retrospective design involve a risk of selection bias. In addition, considering that ASD occurs several years after surgery, the short-term follow-up period was a critical limitation. Therefore, the current results and hypothesis warrant a long-term follow-up study. Second, although there were no statistically significant differences in clinical outcomes, the scores of clinical parameters in the stenosis group were higher than those in the no-stenosis group. Despite a similar extent of improvement, the high scores may reflect the influence of mild to moderate stenosis at the adjacent segment. A long-term follow-up prospective study is necessary to see whether the score gap would be narrowed with time. Third, this study included surgical levels of L4-5 and L5-S1, and the biomechanics at cranial adjacent segments may vary at different surgical levels. Fourth, the hypothesis of this study has not been presented or studied with finite element analysis. Despite those limitations, we suggest these findings warrant a further multi-center study. Considering patients’ specific conditions (mild to moderate stenosis in the adjacent segment and spondylolisthesis), patients need to be recruited from multiple centers to have a robust suggestion, and we are anticipating to organize a prospective study among doctors with a similar philosophy. The subsequent study would give a better idea of how to address mild to moderate stenosis at an adjacent segment in patients with spondylolisthesis.