Open vs. minimally invasive TLIF: 6 key points for spine surgery patients

Spine

A new study published in the Journal of Spinal Disorders and Techniques examines minimally invasive and open transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion procedures.

There were 30 consecutive patients with disc degenerative disease or grade I degenerative spondylolisthesis treated with the minimally invasive approach and 34 consecutive patients with similar pathologic findings and demographic characteristics that underwent the traditional open approach.

 

The patients were treated between 2006 and 2010. The researchers found:

 

1. There was statistically significant improvement in VAS and ODI clinical scores for both the minimally invasive and open procedures.

 

2. The minimally invasive group reported significantly lower early postoperative VAS scores.

 

3. The average hospital stay was 7.4 days for the open TLIF patients and 4.1 days for the mini-TLIF patients.

 

4. Average blood loss for the open group was 620 mL, compared with 230 mL for the mini-TLIF group.

 

5. There weren't major neurological complications in any patients from either group.

 

6. Both groups reported good implant stability after radiographic evaluations at the final follow-up.

 

"Mini-TLIF is a safe and efficient procedure, and when correctly and carefully performed, can reach good results, similar to those obtained with traditional open surgical techniques, even though it may require a longer surgical time at least during the first stages of the learning curve," concluded the study authors.

 

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