Spondylolisthesis in a City in South South Geo-Political Zone of Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Spondylolisthesis is a condition where one vertebra slips over the top of the adjacent vertebra. This is commonest in the lumbar spine. Objectives: To audit lumbo-sacral spine radiographs for spondylolisthesis with emphasis on localisations, sex distribution, types and grading. Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross sectional study was carried out from1st May, 2011 to 21st June, 2012 in Radiology Department, University of Uyo teaching hospital, Uyo, Nigeria. Recruited patients were referrals for lumbo-sacral radiography irrespective of indications. Anterior-posterior and lateral radiographs of the lumbo-sacral spine were taken under standardized conditions. Radiographs with spondylolisthesis were identified and analysed statistically using computer SSPS 13. Results: 249 Patients were studied (132 Males and 117 females). 9.24% (n=23) of the studied population had 25 individual vertebral displacements. 82.61% (n=19) of these patients were females and 17.39% (n=4) were males (female to male ratio - 4.75:1). The mean age for males with vertebral displacement was 44.5 (S.D=10) while the mean age for females was 44.5 (S.D=15.81). The commonest level of vertebral involvement was L4 on L5. This was seen in 56.52% (n=13) of patients with positive cases of spondylolisthesis. This was followed by L5 on S1 with 30.43%. 82.61% of patients had grade 1 displacements. Degenerative spondylolisthesis was the commonest type (52.17%), followed by isthmic type (21.74%), uncategorised (17.39%) and traumatic spondylolisthesis (8.70%). Conclusion: Radiographic pattern of spondylolisthesis in Uyo, Nigeria demonstrates the usual female gender bias, L4/L5 localizations but interestingly show predominance in degenerative spondylolisthesis.