Minimally invasive surgery for managing grade IV and V spondylolisthesis

Abstract

Objective: Surgical treatment of high-grade spondylolisthesis is controversial and aims at restoring the spinopelvic sagittal balance through complete or partial reduction of the listhesis. Nerve decompression and interbody fusion are necessary for patients presenting with neurological deficit, severe pain, lower limb asymmetry, or deformities. We present the case and the results of a patient with high-grade spondylolisthesis, in whom minimally invasive management was performed. A narrative review in this topic is also provided. We performed a literature review of high-grade spondylolisthesis to compare our technique to current surgical alternatives. We included articles from PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Ovid, and Science Direct published between 1963 and 2022 that were written in English, German, and Spanish. The terms used were the following: “high grade spondylolisthesis,” “spondyloptosis,” “surgical management,” “interbody fusion,” and “arthrodesis.” In all, 485 articles were displayed, from which we filtered 112 by title and abstract. At the end, 75 references were selected for the review. Different interbody fusion techniques can be used to correct the lumbosacral kyphosis and restore the spinopelvic parameters. A complete reduction of the listhesis is not always required. The surgical procedure carried out in our patient corresponds to the first known case of minimally invasive circumferential arthrodesis with iliac screws and sacral fixation in a high-grade dysplastic spondylolisthesis. This approach guarantees the correction of the lumbosacral kyphosis and a complete reduction of the listhesis. Further studies are required to determine whether the results of this case can be extrapolated to other patients with high-grade spondylolisthesis.