Laparoscopically Assisted Spinal Surgery

BACKGROUND Spinal surgery is one of the newest frontiers of videolaparoscopic surgery, but requires the cooperative efforts of both the spinal surgeon and the laparoscopic general surgeon. DATA BASE We report our experience with 76 cases of laparoscopic spinal surgery, using both a transperitoneal and a retroperitoneal approach. Technical details and complications are described in detail. CONCLUSIONS Fifty-one patients had a transperitoneal approach with an average operating time of 117 minutes. Uncomplicated cases stayed 4.4 days. Five patients required conversion. All but one patient had L5-S1 level surgery. Twenty-five patients had a retroperitoneal approach with 150 minutes operating time and a 5.7 day stay. Conversions were minimized with a two-balloon technique. The retroperitoneal approach allows for multiple level surgery with virtually unlimited fusion devices. Laparoscopically assisted spine surgery affords all the benefits of minimally invasive surgery, without limitations for the spinal surgeon.