We aim to compare the rate of revisions for ASD after LSF surgery between patients with IS and DLSD.

ASD is a major reason for late reoperations after LSF surgery. Several risk factors are linked to the progression of ASD, but the understanding of the underlying mechanisms is imperfect.

If IS infrequently becomes complicated with ASD, it would emphasize the role of the ongoing degenerative process in spine in the development of ASD.

365 consecutive patients that underwent elective LSF surgery were followed up for an average of 9.7 years.

Surgical indications were classified into 1) IS (n = 64), 2) DLSD (spinal stenosis with or without spondylolisthesis) (n = 222), and 3) other reasons (deformities, postoperative conditions after decompression surgery, posttraumatic conditions) (n = 79). All spinal reoperations were collected from hospital records.

Rates of revisions for ASD were determined using Kaplan–Meier methods.