More than 312,000 lumbar spine procedures have been added to the American Spine Registry from 2015 to 2024, and posterior lumbar interbody fusions/ transforaminal lumbar interbody fusions were the most common, according to the ASR 2026 report.
The report, released Feb. 26, includes data on cervical and lumbar procedures and outcomes from 2015 to 2024.
10 key findings about lumbar spine surgeries:
1. A total 312,477 lumbar spine cases were included in the report. TLIF/PLIF accounted for 32.54% of those cases, and the second most common procedure was lumbar laminectomy or posterior decompression and other decompressions (30.98%).
2. Lumbar arthroplasty was the least commonly performed procedure, making up 0.3% of the cases.
3. Other less-common lumbar spine surgeries were corpectomy (5.41%) and ALIF/LLIF (16.79%).
4. The three most common lumbar spine diagnoses were spinal stenosis (60% of lumbar cases), herniated nucleus pulposus or radiculopathy (33.9%) and spondylolisthesis (25.6%).
5. Medtronic was the most commonly used devicemaker in lumbar spine cases followed by DePuy Synthes and Globus Medical.
6. Anterior/oblique approaches were used in 19.2% of lumbar fusions, and posterior approaches were used in 88.6% of non-fusion lumbar cases. Transposas approaches were used in 11.2% of fusions and 9.2% of nonfusions.
7. Infections were the most common complications for lumbar spine patients after 30 and 90 days post-surgery. Lumbar fusion reoperation rates were 13.9%, and revision rates were 7.6%.
8. Robotics have been used in 1.45% of lumbar cases in 2024, which is about flat compared to 2023.
9. The rate of computer use to assist lumbar spine procedures was 3.4% in 2024, slightly up from 2.9% in 2023.
10. Of 12,579 minimally invasive lumbar spine procedures included in the report, mini open and percutaneous screw fixation were the most commonly-used techniques.
Access the full report here.
