A group of researchers investigated the radiologic evidence of spontaneous spinal arthrodesis in patients with lower lumbar spondylolisthesis and published their findings in Spine.
The researchers conducted a retrospective review of 1,490 consecutive patients who underwent lumbar spine CT scans in 2010 for radiologic evidence of spondylolisthesis at L4-L5 or L5-S1. There were 86 separate incidences of spondylolisthesis, and 18 showed radiologic evidence of spontaneous fusion.
The most common fusion site was in the bilateral facets, followed by directly in the intervertebral disc space and bridging osteophytes adjoining the vertebral bodies, according to the report.
The researchers also found a significant difference in fused versus nonfused cohorts in terms of age, sex and rates of pars defects.
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