Minimally invasive spine surgery has evolved from traditional open spine surgery, and it is an accepted, safe alternative (McAfee, et al., 2010). Traditional open operations for lumbar interbody fusion include anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF), posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF), and transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF). The ALIF provides for a large interbody graft for dis...

OBJECTIVE Bone morphogenetic protein (rhBMP-2) has demonstrated an increased rate of interbody fusion when placed in the intervertebral space. Owing to this advantage, rhBMP-2 is being implanted with increasing frequency in the lumbar spine. The purpose was to quantify and describe the presence of bone resorption within the vertebral body after transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion with placem...

BACKGROUND The use of pedicle screws is the gold standard for supplemental posterior fixation in lateral interbody fusion. Information about the performance of transfacet pedicle screws compared to standard pedicle screws and rods in the upper lumbar spine with or without a lateral interbody fusion device in place is limited. METHODS Fifteen fresh frozen human cadaveric lumbar spine segments ...

BACKGROUND Lumbar interbody fusion has become a well established method to diminish axial back pain as well as radiculopathy in patients with degenerative disc disease, stenosis, and instability. The concept of indirect decompression of the neural foramen and spinal canal while performing fusion became popular in the mid 1990's with description of ALIF techniques. Morphometric analysis confirme...

Posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) using cages in conjunction with pedicle screw fixation is considered the gold standard for surgical treatment of degenerative lumbar spine disorders due to its biomechanical stability and high fusion rate. However, research regarding patterns of fusion in the interbody space during the early postoperative period is lacking.Sixty consecutive patients were...

INTRODUCTION The purpose of this study was to describe procedural details of a minimally invasive presacral approach for revision of an L5-S1 Axial Lumbar Interbody Fusion rod. CASE PRESENTATION A 70-year-old Caucasian man presented to our facility with marked thoracolumbar scoliosis, osteoarthritic changes characterized by high-grade osteophytes, and significant intervertebral disc collapse ...

Background: Interbody cage stabilization as a stand-alone procedure in lumbar spine fusion is questioned due to inconsistent mechanical effects registered in human cadaveric studies. Even segmental mobility exceeding the normal range of motion is described after cage implantation. For the anterior interbody cage fusion, this potential, undesired destabilization is explained by the resection of ...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the radiographic results of minimally invasive (MIS) anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF) and transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF). METHODS Twelve and nineteen patients who underwent MIS-ALIF, MIS-TLIF, respectively, from 2006 to 2008 were analyzed with a minimum 24-months' follow-up. Additionally, 18 patients treated with single level open TLIF surgery in 20...

STUDY DESIGN A retrospective study. PURPOSE To investigate clinical and radiological outcomes when using spinous process as a tricortical autograft for segmental spinal fusion in transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF). OVERVIEW OF LITERATURE Interbody spinal fusion is one of the important procedures in spinal surgery. Many types of autografts are harvested at the expense of complicat...