TLIF With Minimally Invasive Spinal Fixation For Spondylolisthesis

Abstract

The objective of this study is to discuss the procedure and the advantages of this minimally invasive percutaneous technique for fixation of spondylolisthesis. Literature is full of various fusion methods for spondylolisthesis. We studied this minimal invasive method 9(n=9) patients were operated by minimal invasive instrumentation for Spondylolisthesis from Jan 07 to July 08 at Nizams Institute of Medical Sciences. 3(33.3%) of the nine were male patients and 6 (66.6% were females). Age range was from 40 to 58 years. 1 patient (11.1%) had spondylolisthesis at L3-4 level, 6 (66.6%) at L4-5 level and the 2 (22.2%) at L5- S1 level. 6 (66.6%) had Grade I listhesis and 3 (33.3%) had Grade II listhesis. 4 patients (44.4%) had degenerative type of Spondylolisthesis , 4 (44.4%) had lytic type and one (11.1%) had post-operative discectomy status.Pain decreased in all the patients (mean decrease in VAS score of 7.8).There was no incidence of post-operative neurological deficits in any patient. There was less amount of muscle dissection leading to less operative blood loss and less post-operative pain and discomfort to the patient. The average surgery to discharge time period is 4 days. The average operating time is 4.5 hours. This is a safe procedure and another lesser invasive tool in the surgeons armamentarium for Grade I & II listhesis. It is effective in producing pain relief as well as causing less morbidity to the patient. Abbreviations used: VAS-visual analogue score, TLIF- Transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion