Fundamental concepts of lumbar fusion and single-position circumferential lumbar interbody fusion

Abstract

Lumbar interbody fusion has revolutionized the treatment of lumbar spinal disorders. Through restoration of disc height and interbody fusion, a surgeon has more options, particularly less invasive options, for surgical techniques. Single-position circumferential lumbar interbody fusion is becoming more common in the treatment of degenerative, oncologic, traumatic, and deformity disorders of the adult spine. The concept of circumferential interbody fusion has established itself in recent years, but has been afflicted by the impracicality of repositioning intraoperatively as well as only being able to address one aspect of the spine at a time. With single-position techniques, the surgeon is able to save operative time, reduce logistical problems of multi-position techniques, and operate on the spine from more than one approach simultaneously. As technology and surgeon familiarly increases, single-position interbody surgery is expected to gain even wider adoption in the adult spine field.