ArticleSpine surgery and related research2024
Association of Pars Defect Type with Clinical Outcome after Smiley Face Rod Methods for Terminal-Stage Spondylolysis.
Article in Spine surgery and related research, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed.
- Triple Procedure for Direct Pars Repair: An Innovative, Non-fusion Approach for Managing Spondylolysis in Late Adolescence or Early Adulthood.Journal of orthopaedic case reports · 2026Article
- Patient-Specific 3D-Printed Reference Rod for "Smiley Face Rod" Repair of Lumbar Spondylolysis in a Patient with High Body Mass Index.Spine surgery and related research · 2026Article
- Posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) combined with pars repair using a U-shaped rod technique for two-level lumbar spondylolysis: case report and technical note.Journal of spine surgery (Hong Kong) · 2026Article
- Preoperative pars defect length predicts bone union after direct repair for lumbar spondylolysis using the modified smiley face rod technique: a retrospective cohort study.Asian spine journal · 2025Article
- The long-term outcomes after smiley face rod surgery in young lumbar spondylolysis patients.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Evaluation of crankshaft phenomenon after posterior fusion for early onset scoliosis using an inverse trigonometric function: a multicenter retrospective cohort study.Spine deformity · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Introduction: The smiley face rod method is an effective treatment for symptomatic terminal-stage spondylolysis. However, the risk factors for treatment failure are unknown. We investigated the association of pars defect type with the treatment outcomes of this method. Methods: We retrospectively examined data from 34 patients (18.0±6.7 years) with terminal-stage spondylolysis who underwent surgery using the smiley face rod method. The mean follow-up period was 44.9±21.4 months. The patients were divided into 2 groups: pars defect without bone atrophy or sclerosis (group A; 18 patients), and with bone atrophy and sclerosis (group B; 16 patients). We evaluated and compared the visual analog scale (VAS) score for back pain, bone union rate, and time to return to preinjury athletics level between the groups. Fisher exact and paired Results: Within groups, the VAS score was significantly different over time ( Conclusions: The type of pars defect are associated with bone union after the smiley face rod method, but have little effect on postoperative symptoms.
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