Spine
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Review
Minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion: a review of techniques and outcomes.
Review of published literature. ⋯ More studies designed to provide class I or II data will be needed in the future to further solidify the favorable results observed so far with the MIS TLIF procedure.
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Meta Analysis Comparative Study
Minimal access versus open transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion: meta-analysis of fusion rates.
A quantitative meta-analysis was conducted on published studies reporting fusion rates after open or minimally invasive/mini-open transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) procedures for single or multilevel degenerative disease including stenosis with spondylolisthesis and degenerative disc disease. ⋯ Fusion rates for both open and mTLIF are relatively high and in similar ranges. Complication rates are also similar, with a trend toward mTLIF having a lower rate. This analysis provides clear benchmarks for fusion rates in open and mTLIF procedures for spine surgeons.
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Literature review. ⋯ With these relatively simple modifications to surgical technique, significant improvements in intraoperative blood loss, postoperative pain, surgical morbidity, return of function, among others, have been achieved. However, MIS techniques remain technically demanding and a significant complication rate has been observed during the initial learning curve of the procedures.