Radiographic and Clinical Outcomes of Oblique Lateral Interbody Fusion Versus Minimally Invasive Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion for Degenerative Lumbar Disease

Abstract

The effects of oblique lateral interbody fusion (OLIF) and minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (MI-TLIF) have not been compared by a meta-analysis. The present study aimed to summarize the radiographic and clinical outcomes of OLIF and MI-TLIF for degenerative lumbar disease. We performed a systematic review of related studies and report the outcomes of OLIF and MI-TLIF for degenerative lumbar disease. The radiographic outcomes measures included disc height, segmental lordotic angle, lumbar lordotic angle, and fusion. The clinical and functional outcomes included operative blood loss, operative time, length of hospital stay, complications, visual analog scale, and Oswestry disability index. Data pooling and meta-analysis with the random effects model were performed to evaluate the results. A total of 47 studies met the inclusion criteria. Similar changes in terms of disc height, segmental lordotic angle, lumbar lordotic angle, length of hospital stay, visual analog scale, Oswestry disability index, and radiological evidence of fusion of >90% were observed between the 2 groups. The OLIF group showed less operative blood loss and operative time. The incidence of intraoperative and postoperative complications was 9.5% and 19.9% for the OLIF group and 3.5% and 8.5% for the MI-TLIF group, respectively. The radiographic and functional outcomes and length of hospital stay were similar between the 2 groups. The OLIF group showed advantages in operative blood loss and operative time; however, the incidence of complications in this technique was greater than that in the MI-TLIF group.