• Eur Spine J · May 2023

    Changes in psoas and posterior paraspinal muscle morphology after standalone lateral lumbar interbody fusion: a quantitative MRI-based analysis.

    • Manuel Moser, Dominik Adl Amini, Cristian Echeverri, Lisa Oezel, Henryk Haffer, Maximilian Muellner, Ek T Tan, Jennifer Shue, Andrew A Sama, Frank P Cammisa, Federico P Girardi, and Alexander P Hughes.
    • Spine Care Institute, Hospital for Special Surgery, Weill Cornell Medicine, 535 East 70th Street, New York, NY, 10021, USA.
    • Eur Spine J. 2023 May 1; 32 (5): 170417131704-1713.

    PurposeStandalone lateral lumbar interbody fusion (SA-LLIF) without posterior instrumentation can be an alternative to 360° fusion in selected cases. This study aimed to investigate quantitative changes in psoas and paraspinal muscle morphology that occur on index levels after SA-LLIF.MethodsPatients undergoing single- or multi-level SA-LLIF at L2/3 to L4/5 who had preoperative and postoperative lumbar MRI scans, the latter performed between 3 and 18 months after surgery for any reason, were retrospectively included. Muscle measurements were performed of the psoas and posterior paraspinal muscles (PPM; erector spinae and multifidus) on index levels using manual segmentation and an automated pixel intensity threshold method to differentiate muscle from fat signal. Changes in the total cross-sectional area (TCSA), the functional cross-sectional area (FCSA), and the percentage of fat infiltration (FI) of these muscles were assessed.ResultsA total of 67 patients (55.2% female, age 64.3 ± 10.6 years, BMI 26.9 ± 5.0 kg/m2) with 125 operated levels were included. Follow-up MRI scans were performed after an average of 8.7 ± 4.6 months, primarily for low back pain. Psoas muscle parameters did not change significantly, irrespective of the approach side. Among PPM parameters, the mean TCSA at L4/5 (+ 4.8 ± 12.4%; p = 0.013), and mean FI at L3/4 (+ 3.1 ± 6.5%; p = 0.002) and L4/5 (+ 3.0 ± 7.0%; p = 0.002) significantly increased.ConclusionOur study demonstrated that SA-LLIF did not alter psoas muscle morphology, underlining its minimally invasive nature. However, FI of PPM significantly increased over time despite the lack of direct tissue damage to posterior structures, suggesting a pain-mediated response and/or the result of segmental immobilization.© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.

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