STUDY DESIGN A retrospective study. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study is to evaluate, clinically and radiographically, the efficacy of mini-open retroperitoneal anterior lumbar discectomy followed by anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF) for recurrent lumbar disc herniation following primary posterior instrumentation. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA Recurrent disc herniation following previous d...

OBJECTIVE This study critically evaluates the long-term results of standalone anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF), without use of rhBMP-2, as a therapeutic option for symptomatic patients with degenerative disc disease (DDD). Furthermore, this study intends to identify predictive parameters for anterior lumbar interbody fusion outcome. METHODS A retrospective cohort study with additional ...

This study used finite element (FE) analysis with the load-controlled method (LCM) and the displacement-controlled method (DCM) to examine motion differences at the implant level and adjacent levels between fusion and non-fusion implants. A validated three-dimensional intact (INT) L1-L5 FE model was used. At the L3-L4 level, the INT model was modified to surgery models, including the artificial...

STUDY DESIGN Electronic survey. OBJECTIVE To identify the surgical treatment patterns for low back pain (LBP), among U.S. spine surgeons. Specifically determine (1) differences in surgical treatment responses based on various demographic variables; (2) probability of disagreement based on surgeon subgroups. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA Multiple surgical and nonsurgical treatments exist for LB...

Surgical treatment for degenerative spinal disorders is controversial, although lumbar fusion is considered an acceptable option for disabling lower back pain. Patients underwent instrumented minimally invasive anterior lumbar interbody fusion (mini-ALIF) using a retroperitoneal approach except for requiring multilevel fusions, severe spinal canal stenosis, high-grade spondylolisthesis, and a a...

BACKGROUND Lumbar spine fusion rates can vary according to the surgical technique. Although many studies on spinal fusion have been conducted and reported, the heterogeneity of the study designs and data handling make it difficult to identify which approach yields the highest fusion rate. This paper reviews studies that compared the lumbosacral fusion rates achieved with different surgical tech...

OBJECTIVE We evaluated our experience with laparoscopic L5-S1 anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF). METHODS This represents a retrospective analysis of consecutive patients who underwent L5-S1 laparoscopic ALIF between February 1998 and August 2003. RESULTS Twenty-eight patients underwent L5-S1 LAIF (15 males and 13 females). The mean age was 43 years (range, 26 to 67). Mean operative ti...

STUDY DESIGN A prospective study. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to evaluate clinical and patient outcomes post combined total disc arthroplasty (TDA) and anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF), known as hybrid surgery for the treatment of multilevel symptomatic degenerative disc disease (DDD). SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA Class I studies comparing the treatment of one-level lumbar DDD ...