Indirect foraminal decompression after lateral transpsoas interbody fusion.

Area of Science:

• Spinal surgery
• Orthopedics
• Neurosurgery

Background:

• Lateral transpsoas interbody fusion (LTIF) offers an anterior column approach for lumbar fusion.
• Understanding the impact of LTIF on neural foraminal dimensions and patient outcomes is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effect of LTIF on lumbar foraminal area.
• To assess how interbody cage placement influences intervertebral height.
• To correlate changes in foraminal area and cage position with patient-reported outcomes (ODI and SF-12).

Main Methods:

• Patients undergoing LTIF had pre- and post-operative CT scans analyzed.
• Disc heights, neural foraminal area, and cage position were measured.
• Changes in foraminal area were correlated with ODI and SF-12 scores.

Main Results:

• Lumbar foraminal area increased by an average of 35% (p < 0.01) after LTIF.
• Significant increases in both anterior and posterior disc heights were observed.
• No correlation was found between the increase in foraminal area and improvements in ODI or SF-12 scores.

Conclusions:

• LTIF effectively increases lumbar foraminal area by approximately 35% post-cage placement.
• Cage position did not significantly influence foraminal area changes.
• The lack of correlation between foraminal area increase and functional outcomes suggests pain is multifactorial.