SynthesisEuropean spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society2017
Decompression plus fusion versus decompression alone for degenerative lumbar spondylolisthesis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 41 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
41 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 85 citations in OpenAlex.
- Decompression alone versus decompression with fusion in the treatment of lumbar degenerative spondylolisthesis: evaluating the overlapping meta-analyses.Neurosurgical review · 2026Pooled it
- Decompression alone versus decompression with instrumented fusion in the treatment of lumbar degenerative spondylolisthesis: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised trials.Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry · 2023Pooled it
- Decompression alone versus decompression with fusion in patients with lumbar spinal stenosis with degenerative spondylolisthesis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2023Pooled it
- Reoperation of decompression alone or decompression plus fusion surgeries for degenerative lumbar diseases: a systematic review.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2019Pooled it
- Comparison of intra subject repeatability of quantitative fluoroscopy and static radiography in the measurement of lumbar intervertebral flexion translation.Scientific reports · 2019Trial
- Elective Lumbar Decompression With Fusion Is Associated With Increased Mortality Compared With Decompression Alone: A National Propensity-Matched Analysis of Aging Cohorts.Global spine journal · 2026Article
- Readmission rates and hospital charges: a comparative study of surgical interventions in degenerative spondylolisthesis and spinal canal stenosis.Journal of orthopaedic surgery and research · 2025Article
- Comparison of clinical efficacy between Percutaneous Endoscopic Large channels nerve decompression through Translaminar approach and Percutaneous Endoscopy Conventional channels nerve decompression through Transforaminal approach for the treatment of degenerative L4/5 spinal stenosis: a retrospective study.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2025Article
- Evaluating surgical interventions for low-grade degenerative lumbar spondylolisthesis: a network meta-analysis of decompression alone, fusion, and dynamic stabilization.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2025Article
- A perspective on reoperations after surgical treatments of degenerative lumbar diseases.Journal of orthopaedic translation · 2025Review
- Decompression Alone vs Decompression and Fusion: Spin in Abstracts of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis.Global spine journal · 2025Article
- Fusion versus decompression alone for lumbar degenerative spondylolisthesis and spinal stenosis: a target trial emulation with index trial benchmarking.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2024Article
- Comparing opioid utilization and costs for surgical management of single-level spondylolisthesis: A national claims database analysis.Journal of orthopaedics · 2024Article
- Pacific Spine and Pain Society (PSPS) Evidence Review of Surgical Treatments for Lumbar Degenerative Spinal Disease: A Narrative Review.Pain and therapy · 2024Review
- Evaluation and Rehabilitation after Adult Lumbar Spine Surgery.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Review
- Altered central pain processing in patients with degenerative lumbar diseases and its association with low physical activity levels after lumbar spinal surgeries: a retrospective cohort analysis.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2024Article
- Risk factors for low back pain after oblique lumbar interbody fusion in patients with low-grade degenerative lumbar spondylolisthesis: a retrospective study.Frontiers in surgery · 2024Article
- Clinical value of flexion-extension radiographs with bracket support for lumbar stability assessment.American journal of translational research · 2024Article
- Article
- Biomechanics after spinal decompression and posterior instrumentation.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeTo compare the clinical effectiveness of decompression plus fusion and decompression alone for patients with degenerative lumbar spondylolisthesis, a systematic review and meta-analysis of all available evidence was performed.
methodsA search of the literature was conducted on PubMed/MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Collaboration Library. Relevant studies comparing decompression plus fusion and decompression alone were selected according to eligibility criteria. Predefined endpoints were extracted and meta-analyzed from the identified studies.
resultsFour randomized controlled trials and 13 observational studies were eligible. The pooled data revealed that fusion was associated with significantly higher rates of satisfaction and lower leg pain scores when compared with decompression alone. However, fusion significantly increased the intraoperative blood loss, operative time and hospital stay. Both techniques had similar ODI, back pain scores, complication rate, and reoperation rate.
conclusionsBased on the available evidence, decompression plus fusion maybe be better than decompression alone in the treatment of degenerative spondylolisthesis. Fusion had advantages of improvement of clinical satisfaction, as well as reduction of postoperative leg pain, with similar complication rate to decompression alone.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.