Minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion

For over 70 years, interbody lumbar fusions have evolved from modifications to discectomy procedures to more advanced techniques such as the posterolateral interbody fusion (PLIF) and ultimately the transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF). The advent of minimally invasive surgery (MIS) techniques provided advantages of decreased soft tissue dissection, lower blood loss, and decreased post-operative pain.9 Recently, further developments have lead to the introduction of endoscopic techniques with an awake anesthesia protocol that has shown improved results over the standard MIS TLIF.12., 13., 14.,20,31 While the standard MIS TLIF has now become commonplace, endoscopic MIS TLIF will also see widespread adoption over time.