Surgical Outcomes for Minimally Invasive vs Open Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion

Abstract

Background: Minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) - or MI-TLIF - has been increasing in prevalence compared with open TLIF (O-TLIF) procedures. The use of MI-TLIF is an evolving technique with conflicting reports in the literature about outcomes. Objective: To investigate the impact of MI-TLIF in comparison with O-TLIF for early and late outcomes by using the Visual Analog Scale for back pain (VAS-back) and the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI). Secondary end points include blood loss, operative time, radiation exposure, length of stay, fusion rates, and complications between the 2 procedures. Methods: During August 2014, a systematic literature search was performed identifying 987 articles. Of these, 30 met inclusion criteria. A random-effects meta-analysis was performed by using both pooled and subset analyses based on study type. Results: Our meta-analysis demonstrated that MI-TLIF reduced blood loss (P