Disc damage above a spondylolisthesis.

Fifty-two patients with low back pain and spondylolisthesis at L5/S1 had discograms performed at the L4/L5 level. Retrolisthesis at L4/L5 occurred in 44%, but no direct relationship was demonstrated between the extent of retrolisthesis and either the grade of spondylolisthesis or the presence of disc damage. There was an inverse relationship between the degree of spondylolisthesis and L4/L5 disc damage. Thirty-six patients were assessed for symptomatic pain reproduction during discography. Fourteen (39%) had normal nuclear morphology and no pain induction on injection. Twenty-two patients had disc damage and 11 (50%) had symptomatic pain induced by injection. These results were correlated with the discographic appearances.