STUDY DESIGN Systematic review. STUDY RATIONALE The surgical treatment of adult degenerative lumbar conditions remains controversial. Conventional techniques include posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) or transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF). A new direct approach known as lumbar lateral interbody fusion (LLIF), or extreme lateral interbody fusion (XLIF(®)) or direct lateral int...

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...

BACKGROUND There have been few studies comparing the clinical and radiographic outcomes between the Dynesys dynamic stabilization system and posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF). The objective of this study is to compare the clinical and radiographic outcomes of Dynesys and PLIF for lumbar degenerative disease. METHODS Of 96 patients with lumbar degenerative disease included in this retro...

BACKGROUND Few studies compared radiographic and clinical outcomes between posterior dynamic stabilization (PDS) and posterior lumbar intervertebral fusion (PLIF) in treating degenerative disc disease (DDD). METHODS A total of 176 consecutive patients who underwent posterior instrumented spinal surgery for degenerative disc disease between January 2007 and January 2009 were prospectively divi...

BACKGROUND We compared the perioperative results and complications associated with PLIF and TLIF, and collected evidence for choosing the better fusion method. METHODS A literature survey of the MEDLINE and EMBASE databases identified 7 comparative observational studies that met our inclusion criteria. Checklists by Cowley were used to evaluate the risk of bias of the included studies. A data...

STUDY DESIGN Retrospective study. OBJECTIVES Recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2 (rhBMP-2) has been widely used in spinal fusion surgery, but there is little information on rhBMP-2 utilization in single-level posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF). The purpose of our study was to evaluate the trends and demographics of rhBMP-2 utilization in single-level PLIF. METHODS Patients ...

Although spondylolisthesis was traditionally treated with posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF), minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (MIS-TLIF) was recently proposed as an alternative treatment for spondylolisthesis. However, no studies have focused on the comparison of these 2 techniques' outcome on spondylolisthesis.The operative reports and perioperative data of pati...

Objective To compare posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) with transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) for spinal fusion in patients previously treated by discectomy. Methods This retrospective study evaluated pre- and postoperative neurological status via Japan Orthopaedic Association (JOA) score. Surgical outcome was based on recovery rate percentage (RR%). Adverse event data were r...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the biomechanical effects of the lumbar posterior complex on the adjacent segments after posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) surgeries. METHODS A finite element model of the L1-S1 segment was modified to simulate PLIF with total laminectomy (PLIF-LAM) and PLIF with hemilaminectomy (PLIF-HEMI) procedures. The models were subjected to a 400N follower load with a 7....

OBJECT The authors retrospectively reviewed a series of 35 patients with mechanical low-back or one- to two-level discogenic pain; the patients underwent lumbar interbody fusion in which threaded cortical bone dowels (TCBDs) were placed to treat degenerative disc disease. The purpose of the study was to delineate fusion rates and outcome data in this series of patients. METHODS The series was...