The hook screw method is a direct repair technique that permits ‘restitutio ad integrum’ for a functional segment. The surgical method of treating spondylolysis and grade 1 spondylolisthesis by spondylytic hook screw reduction and bone grafting in 34 patients is reported. Of these patients, 32 showed good to excellent results. The bone on either side of the defect is roughened. Then the screws are inserted after pre-drilling into the base of the articular process inclined at 400 to the vertebral endplate and diverging 15 to 20 degrees from each side. Then the special hooks, hooked under the lamina, are fixed to the screws by nuts over a spring so as to obtain compression over the defect. Autologous cancellous bone graft is placed in the defect. A total of 34 patients were included in this study from 1998 to 2006, 32 male and 2 female patients. Pre-operative and post-operative Oswestry Lumbar Disability Index score (OLDI) and SF 36 scores recorded.Surgical technique
Materials and methods