Advances in Lateral Interbody Fusion and Single Position Surgery

Area of Science:

• Spine Surgery Innovations
• Minimally Invasive Techniques
• Orthopedic Procedures

Background:

• Traditional Lateral Lumbar Interbody Fusion (LLIF) often requires patient repositioning for 360-degree fusion or direct decompression.
• Dual-position LLIF (DP-L) involves repositioning from lateral to prone, increasing operative complexity and time.
• Single-position surgery (SPS) aims to streamline LLIF by completing the procedure without repositioning.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review advancements in LLIF, focusing on single-position approaches.
• To compare single-position lateral LLIF and single-position prone LLIF (P-SPS) against traditional DP-L.
• To provide an overview of SPS LLIF's key aspects and clinical applications.

Main Methods:

• A narrative literature review was conducted.
• Included systematic reviews, meta-analyses, retrospective studies, and case series comparing SPS lateral and SPS prone to DP-L.
• Focused on studies evaluating operative efficiency, clinical outcomes, and radiographic results.

Main Results:

• Both lateral SPS and P-SPS demonstrated reduced operative times and hospital length of stay compared to DP-LLIF.
• Improvements were noted in estimated blood loss, complication rates, and radiographic outcomes for SPS techniques.
• Statistical significance of these improvements varied inconsistently across studies.

Conclusions:

• Single-position LLIF represents a significant advancement over traditional DP-L.
• SPS LLIF offers potential benefits in efficiency and outcomes, though further refinement is needed.
• Further research may optimize the application of single-position techniques in spine surgery.