[Objective]To investigate the feasibility and merits of the Smith-Peterson osteotomy for the treatment of degenerative lumbar scoliosis. [Methods]Twenty-five patients(11 males,14 females)with degenerative lumbar scoliosis malformations underwent operations from May 2004 to October 2007.The mean average age were 67 years (range,56~77 years).All the patients underwent more than three segments Smith-Peterson osteotomy and lumbar pedicle screw fixation to have the reconstruction of spinal coronal and sagittal plane balance.[Results]The mean duration of surgery were 200 mins(range,150~320 mins),and the average intraoperative blood loss were 1000 ml (range,600~2 000 ml).There were two cases of postoperative cerebrospinal fluid leakage,which were alleviated by pulling drainage tube and oppressing the wound.Postoperative pain and numbness in both lower extremities were aggravated in 2 cases,one of which was recovered completely 3 weeks later,and another 12 weeks later.The mean clinical follow-up were 36 months(range,24~60 months).JOA 29 score was recorded to evaluate the relief of the symptoms.The good-to-excellent rate was 88.2% and the poor rate was 0%.The coronal Cobb's angle was improved from the preoperative average of 23? (range,15?~ 40?) to the postoperative average of 12? (range,8?~ 20?).The sagittal Cobb's angle was improved from the preoperative average of 0 ?(range,-15?~ 15?) to the postoperative average of 33?(range,25?~ 40?).[Conclusion]Smith-Peterson osteotomy is an effective method for the decompression of lumbar spinal stenosis,and is helpful to correct the sagittal deformity of the degenerative lumbar scoliosis.It also has relatively small interference to nerve in the operation.