The radiographs of 35 consecutive adult patients with isthmic spondylolisthesis who underwent a transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) with one or two Brantigan carbon fiber cages and pedicle screw instrumentation were evaluated. Anterolisthesis, disk space height, and slip angle were measured in preoperative and postoperative standing neutral radiographs. Anterolisthesis was reduced and disk space height was increased with the TLIF procedure. Average slip angle, however, was not significantly altered. The restoration of lordosis across the listhetic disk space correlated with a more anterior placement of the interbody cage within the disk space. The TLIF technique, performed with the Brantigan cage and pedicle screw instrumentation, appears to be able to restore disk height and reduce forward translation in patients with isthmic spondylolisthesis, but improvement in sagittal alignment is dependent upon anterior placement of the interbody device.
*Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Thomas Jefferson University and Rothman Institute, and †Delaware Valley Regional Spinal Cord Injury Center, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.; and ‡Combined Neurosurgical and Orthopaedic Spine Program (CNOSP) and International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries (ICORD), University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Received March 4, 2003; accepted June 9, 2003.
Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Brian K. Kwon, Department of Orthopaedics, Thomas Jefferson University, 719-1015 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, PA, 19107, U.S.A. E-mail: briankkwon@yahoo.ca
