Study: Wait to perform surgery on patients with cervical degenerative spondylolisthesis

Researchers from Korea concluded that surgeons should first observe patients with cervical degenerative spondylolisthesis rather than operating right away, according to results published in Spine.

“Our results suggest that the majority of these patients may be stable and do not develop progression of disease or catastrophic neurologic deficits,” Moon Soo Park, MD, PhD, of the Medical College of Hallym University in the Republic of Korea, stated in a press release.

Park and colleagues examined radiographs of 27 patients with cervical degenerative spondylolisthesis from a database of 697 patients, according to the abstract. They noted 3 of 6 patients with anterolisthesis and 7 of 21 patients with retrolisthesis showed more than 2 mm of displacement between vertebrae. However, none of these patients progressed further at follow-up 24 months later.

At the final visit, 7 of the 10 patients with vertebral displacement showed no change. Park and colleagues found 3 of the 17 patients with less than 2 mm of displacement between vertebrae had vertebral displacement greater than 2 mm, but these patients had retrolisthesis initially, according to the abstract.

The researchers said the small sample size and short follow-up were limitations to the study, but noted that, in their experience, cervical degenerative spondylolisthesis does not necessarily require surgery.

“In the absence of neurologic symptoms, we recommend observation of patients with degenerative spondylolistheses of the cervical spine,” Park stated.

Reference:

Park MS. Spine. 2013;doi:10.1097/BRS.0b013e31827de4fd.