Minimally invasive spine fusion may offer faster recovery, other benefits

Mini-transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion, a type of minimally invasive spine fusion, is associated with less blood loss, less postoperative pain, smaller incisions, a shorter hospital stay, and a faster recovery and return to work, according to spine surgeons at Loyola University Medical Center, in Maywood, Ill.

In a press release from Loyola University Medical Center, Beejal Y. Amin, MD, the first author of a study on the subject published in Neurosurgical Focus, stated that he spreads and dilates the muscles to obtain access to the lumbar spine during the procedure and has seen patients regain the ability to drive and walk distances greater than 25 feet after treatment.

A surgical video about the minimally invasive method of transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion that Amin uses accompanied the published abstract. In it, Amin and colleagues demonstrated the procedure in a patient with debilitating leg pain and numbness from degenerative spondylolisthesis and spinal stenosis.

The patient had one lumbar vertebra that slipped forward over the vertebra below it, pinching the nerve root and causing pain in the left leg. Therefore, Amin fused the L4 and L5 vertebrae. First, he decompressed the spinal nerve roots and removed the degenerated disc between two vertebrae. An implant filled with bone graft was placed in the empty disc space with the minimally invasive techniques, and rods and screws were used to hold the vertebrae together, according to the press release.

“It is important to confirm depth of screw placement on lateral fluoroscopy,” Amin said in the surgical video.

Reference: Amin BY, et al. Neurosurg Focus. 2013;doi:10.3171/2013.V2.FOCUS13187.

Disclosure: Amin reports no relevant financial disclosures.