{"id":"b3a0e67e-8e89-46e5-b2e6-5bbd029c32e0","slug":"congenital-absence-of-a-lumbosacral-facet-joint-a-case-report","title":"Congenital absence of a lumbosacral facet joint: A case report","authors":["Nitin Maruti Adsul","Manoj Kumar","Shankar Acharya","K. L. Kalra","R. S. Chahal"],"abstract":"Background: Congenital absence of the lumbosacral facet joint is extremely rare, with only 26 cases reported in the literature. Here, we present a patient with the unilateral absence of the left fifth lumbar inferior articular process and reviewed the relevant literature. Case Description: A 32-year-old gentleman, who had undergone right L4-5 lumbar microdiscectomy 3 months ago now presented with acute low back and left leg pain following a fall. He is now presented with acute low back and left leg pain following a fall. Plain radiographs of the L-S spine revealed an absent left L5–S1 zygapophyseal joint. The magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography studies additionally confirmed an absent unilateral left L5 lumbar inferior articular process. Conclusion: Patients presenting for lumbar surgery may have unilaterally absent lumbosacral zygapophyseal joints, which may impact the outcome of surgical treatment.","thumbnailUrl":"https://sni-digital-videos.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/b3a0e67e-8e89-46e5-b2e6-5bbd029c32e0/featured/hero-cropped-1781563628237.jpg","publishDate":"2020-01-24T00:00:00.000Z","doi":"10.25259/SNI_606_2019","categories":["Spine","Case Report"],"fullTextUrl":"https://surgicalneurologyint.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/9854/SNI-11-15.pdf"}