In a recently concluded study undertaken to compare the efficacy of surgical and non-surgical procedures on patients of degenerative spondylolisthesis and spinal stenosis, researchers found that spondylolisthesis patients responded significantly better to surgery than those suffering from spinal stenosis.

A little over 60% of each group had surgical procedures and the rest, non-surgical treatment. Their condition was monitored over a two year period in terms of body pain, disability index and physical function parameters.

Results:

Surgical Procedures -
Pre-treatment condition of both categories of patients was similar, but spondylolisthesis patients responded much better to surgical procedures than spinal stenosis patients.

Non-surgical Procedures -
Patients that were not operated upon improved less, and there was no real difference in outcomes between the two categories of patients.

The results were reported in the February issue of the journal Spine.