Surgical Management of 3-Level Lumbar Spondylolyses

Three-level lumbar spondylolyses are extremely rare. So far, only 11 cases were reported in the literature. Treatment of multilevel spondylolyses has not been consistent. Conservative treatment is commonly considered first in most patients, but those who remain symptomatic may benefit from operative treatment. We report here 3 cases of 3-level lumbar spondylolyses that were treated successfully with direct isthmic repair in 2 cases and a combined surgery of isthmic repair and interbody fusion in 1 case. Our clinical results indicated that direct defect repair using the screw–hook technique is a simple and safe procedure for the motion segment with normal disc. If the involved disc shows degenerative change, fusion surgery should be considered Surgical treatment of multilevel spondylolyses varies between fusion, direct isthmic repair, and combined management associating 2 procedures at different levels. The success of management of the 3 patients with 3-level spondylolyses depends on the choice of appropriate treatment for every patient.