Minimally-Invasive versus Conventional Repair of Spondylolysis in Athletes: A Review of Outcomes and Return to Play.

Minimally-Invasive versus Conventional Repair of Spondylolysis in Athletes: A Review of Outcomes and Return to Play. Asian Spine J. 2017 Oct;11(5):832-842 Authors: Kolcun JPG, Chieng LO, Madhavan K, Wang MY Abstract Spondylolysis from pars fracture is a common injury among young athletes, which can limit activity and cause chronic back pain. While current literature has examined the relative benefits of surgical and conservative management of these injuries, no study has yet compared outcomes between conventional direct repair of pars defects and modern minimally invasive procedures. The goals of surgery are pain resolution, return to play at previous levels of activity, and a shorter course of recovery. In this review, the authors have attempted to quantify any differences in outcome between patients treated with conventional or minimally invasive techniques. A literature search was performed of the PubMed database for relevant articles, excluding articles describing conservative management, traumatic injury, or high-grade spondylolisthesis. Articles included for review involved young athletes treated for symptomatic spondylolysis with either conventional or minimally invasive surgery. Two independent reviewers conducted the literature search and judged articles for inclusion. All studies were classified according to the North American Spine Society standards. Of the 116 results of our initial search, 16 articles were included with ...
Source: Asian Spine Journal - Category: Orthopaedics Tags: Asian Spine J Source Type: research