Taryn N Walker, Jennifer C Urquhart, Parham Rasoulinejad, Supriya Singh, R Andrew Glennie, Charles G Fisher, Y Raja Rampersaud, Edward Abraham, John Street, Marcel F Dvorak, Scott Paquette, Raphaele Charest-Morin, Nicolas Dea, Nicholas Gelinas-Phaneuf, Brian K Kwon, Christopher S Bailey
OBJECTIVE: Surgical treatment of degenerative lumbar spondylolisthesis (DLS) reliably improves patient-reported quality of life; however, patient population heterogeneity, in addition to other factors, ensures ongoing equipoise in choosing the ideal surgical treatment. Surgeon preference for fusion or decompression alone influences surgical treatment decision-making. Meanwhile, at presentation, patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) differ considerably between females and males. The aims of this study were to determine whether there exists a difference in the rates of decompression and fusion versus decompression alone based on patient-reported sex, and to determine if widely accepted indications for fusion justify any observed differences or if surgeon preference plays a role...
March 8, 2024: Journal of Neurosurgery. Spine