Efficacy of therapeutic fluoroscopy-guided lumbar spine interventional procedures.

Prospective, double-blind, randomized placebo-controlled trials in interventional spine: what the highest quality literature tells us.

BACKGROUND CONTEXT The prospective, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study design is essential in the interventional spine literature to truly evaluate whether or not a procedure is effective. PURPOSE This article will critically evaluate the highest quality interventional spine literature with strict interpretation of the results of these trials. STUDY DESIGN Review article. ...

Surgeon and patient radiation exposure in minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion.

OBJECT Minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) is an increasingly popular procedure. The technique involves use of fluoroscopy to assist with pedicle screw (PS) placement. The potential exists for both the surgeon and the patient to become exposed to significant amounts of radiation. The authors undertook this study to quantify the radiation dose to the surgeon and pati...

Factors Related to Radiation Exposure during Lumbar Spine Intervention

Fluoroscopy guidance is useful to confirm anatomical landmark and needle location for spine intervention; however, it can lead to radiation exposure in patients, physicians, and medical staff. Physicians who used fluoroscopy should be cognizant of radiation exposure and intend to minimize radiation dose. We retrospectively reviewed three lumbar spine intervention procedures (nerve root block, m...

C-arm fluoroscopic cone beam CT for guidance of minimally invasive spine interventions.

BACKGROUND Isocentric C-arm fluoroscopic cone beam CT (CBCT) is a new technique for near real time 3-D volume imaging guidance of percutaneous interventional procedures. In combination with digital flat panel detectors, CBCT has high spatial resolution with isotropic voxel size, allowing for high resolution image reconstruction in any plane, including 3D rotational reconstructions. CBCT combine...

The oblique interlaminar approach for fluoroscopy-guided lumbar puncture: keep the eye opened!