Axial Symptoms and Spinal-pelvic Parameters After Degenerative Lumbar Spondylolisthesis.

Context: Degenerative spondylolisthesis (DS) is a prevalent degenerative condition affecting the lumbar spine. Local spinal parameters play a pivotal role in surgical complications and in the QoL that adults with spinal deformities experience. Treatment can effectively alleviate radicular symptoms, but it doesn't significantly mitigate postoperative axial symptoms (AS).
Objective: The study intended to investigate the correlation between postoperative axial symptoms (AS) and spinal-pelvic parameters for patients with DS of the lumbar spine.
Design: The research team conducted a prospective cohort study.
Setting: The study took place at the Huai'an Hospital of Huai'an City in the Huai'an District of Huai'an City in JiangSu Province, China.
Participants: Participants were 120 patients with DS who had been admitted to the department of orthopedics at the hospital between January 2016 and December 2022 and 120 healthy volunteers during the same period.
Intervention: The research team created two groups, each with 120 participants: (1) the intervention group with DS who received posterior laminar decompression + pedicle-screw internal fixation + intervertebral-space bone grafting and fusion, and (2) the control group, the healthy volunteers.
Outcome Measures: The research team: (1) measured both group's spinal-pelvic parameters at baseline and at 6 months postintervention, (2) evaluated both group's motor functions at baseline and at 6 months postintervention, using the Japanese Orthopedic Association (OAS) scale and the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), (3) examined the intervention group's postoperative AS, and (4) analyzed the correlation between the intervention group's spinal-pelvic parameters and its postoperative AS and motor function.
Results: At 6 months postintervention, the intervention group's spinal-pelvic parameters-lumbar lordosis (LL) and sacral slope (SS) were significantly lower-and-pelvic incidence (PI), pelvic tilt (PT), thoracic kyphosis (TK), segmental lumbar lordosis (SLL), and sagittal vertical axis (SVA) were significantly higher than those of the control group (all P = .000). The intervention group's JOA and ODI scores were significantly lower than those of the control group postintervention (both P = .000). Postintervention compared to the non-AS group, the AS group's LL (P = .000), PI (P = .000), and SS (P = .020) were significantly lower and PT (P = .002), TK (P = .000), SLL (P = .002), and SVA (P = .000) were significantly higher. Postoperative AS was negatively correlated with LL, PI, SS, and positively correlated with PT, TK, SLL, and SVA (all P = .000). The JOA and ODI scores were positively correlated with LL, PI, and SS, and negatively correlated with PT, TK, SLL, and SVA (all P = .000).
Conclusions: Postoperative AS in patients with DS is significantly correlated with spinal-pelvic parameters, providing convincing evidence for the evaluation of postoperative dysfunction. However, generalizing to other patients is limited due to the small sample size, which might have resulted in bias in spinal-pelvic parameters. Hence, ongoing trials with large samples are warranted.