Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 15, 2026
Multilevel Oblique Lumbar Interbody Fusion in Degenerative Lumbar Disc Disease with Instability
Published on: July 25, 2025
Biomechanical Evaluation of Lumbar Decompression Adjacent to Instrumented Segments
Peter Grunert1, Phillip M Reyes, Anna G U S Newcomb
1*Weill Cornell Brain and Spine Center, Department of Neurological Surgery, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York; ‡Spinal Biomechanics Research Laboratory, Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix, Arizona.
Background:
Multilevel lumbar stenosis, in which 1 level requires stabilization due to spondylolisthesis, is routinely treated with multilevel open laminectomy and fusion. We hypothesized that a minimally invasive (MI) decompression is biomechanically superior to open laminectomy and may allow decompression of the level adjacent the spondylolisthesis without additional fusion.
Objective:
To study the mechanical effect of various decompression procedures adjacent to instrumented segments in cadaver lumbar spines.
Methods:
Conditions tested were (1) L4-L5 instrumentation, (2) L3-L4 MI decompression, (3) addition of partial facetectomy at L3-L4, and (4) addition of laminectomy at L3-L4. Flexibility tests were performed for range of motion (ROM) analysis by applying nonconstraining, pure moment loading during flexion-extension, lateral bending, and axial rotation. Compression flexion tests were performed for motion distribution analysis.
Results:
After instrumentation, MI decompression increased flexion-extension ROM at L3-L4 by 13% (P = .03) and axial rotation by 23% (P = .003). Partial facetectomy further increased axial rotation by 15% (P = .03). After laminectomy, flexion-extension ROM further increased by 12% (P = .05), a 38% increase from baseline, and axial rotation by 17% (P = .02), a 58% increase from baseline. MI decompression yielded no significant increase in segmental contribution of motion at L3-L4, in contrast to partial facetectomy and laminectomy (<.05).
Conclusion:
MI tubular decompression is biomechanically superior to open laminectomy adjacent to instrumented segments. These results lend support to the concept that in patients in whom a multilevel MI decompression is performed, the fusion might be limited to the segments with actual instability.
Abbreviation:
MI, minimally invasive.
