Corey T Walker, David S Xu, Tyler S Cole, Lea M Alhilali, Jakub Godzik, Santiago Angel Estrada, Juan Pedro Giraldo, Joshua T Wewel, Clinton D Morgan, James J Zhou, Alexander C Whiting, S Harrison Farber, Nikolay L Martirosyan, Jay D Turner, Juan S Uribe
OBJECTIVE: An advantage of lateral lumbar interbody fusion (LLIF) surgery is the indirect decompression of the neural elements that occurs because of the resulting disc height restoration, spinal realignment, and ligamentotaxis. The degree to which indirect decompression occurs varies; no method exists for effectively predicting which patients will respond. In this study, the authors identify preoperative predictive factors of indirect decompression of the central canal. METHODS: The authors performed a retrospective evaluation of prospectively collected consecutive patients at a single institution who were treated with LLIF without direct decompression...
April 30, 2021: Journal of Neurosurgery. Spine