Lumbar 3-Lumbar 5 Robotic-Assisted Endoscopic Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion: 2-Dimensional Operative Video

Minimally invasive spine surgery has the potential to reduce soft tissue destruction, blood loss, postoperative pain, and overall perioperative morbidity while accelerating recovery. Robotic guidance systems are relatively new tools in the minimally invasive surgeon's armamentarium, striving to increase accuracy of instrumentation placement, decrease complications, reduce radiation burden, and enhance surgical ergonomics in order to improve efficiency and maximize patient outcomes. We present the case of a 78-yr-old male with intractable lower back and bilateral lower extremity pain with multilevel degenerative spondylosis. The procedure performed was a L3-5 robotic-assisted endoscopic transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) utilizing the Mazor X robotic guidance system (Medtronic) for both percutaneous pedicle screw placement, as well as trajectory localization for endoscopic discectomy and percutaneous interbody delivery. Previously, clinical and radiographic success has been published regarding the awake, endoscopic TLIF.1 We document the first use of robotic guidance for disc space localization and its combination with endoscopy to achieve interbody fusion, utilizing an expandable, allograft-filled mesh interbody device.2 This video demonstrates appropriate patient positioning, work flow for this unique technique, and the benefits of using robotic guidance to plan and execute percutaneous trajectories through Kambin's triangle. This procedure involves the off-label use of recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2 (Infuse™, Medtronic), OptiMesh® graft containment device (Spineology), and liposomal bupivacaine (Exparel®, Pacira).