Lateral lumbar interbody fusion in adult spine deformity - A review of literature.

Introduction: Surgery for adult spine deformity presents a challenging issue for spinal surgeons with high morbidity rates reported in the literature. The minimally invasive lateral approach aims at reducing these complications while maintaining similar outcomes as associated with open spinal surgeries. The aim of this paper is to review the literature on the use of lateral lumbar interbody fusion in the cases of adult spinal deformity.

A systematic review of MIS and open decompression surgery for spinal metastases in the last two decades.

Objective: The primary intention of this review being to produce an updated systematic review of the literature on published outcomes of decompressive surgery for metastatic spinal disease including metastatic spinal cord compression, using techniques of MIS and open decompressive surgery.

Methods: The authors conducted database searches of OVID MEDLINE and EMBASE identifying those studies that reported clinical outcomes, surgical techniques used along with associated complications when decompressive surgery was employed for metastatic spinal tumors. Both retrospective and prospective studies were analysed.

Is Osteogenic Differentiation of Human Nucleus Pulposus Cells a Possibility for Biological Spinal Fusion?

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether a simple, biologically robust method for inducing calcification of degenerate intervertebral discs (IVD) could be developed to provide an alternative treatment for patients requiring spinal fusion.

Design: Nucleus pulposus (NP) cells isolated from 14 human IVDs were cultured in monolayer and exposed to osteogenic medium, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D (VitD), parathyroid hormone (PTH), and bone morphogenic proteins (BMPs) 2/7 to determine if they could become osteogenic. Similarly explant cultures of IVDs from 11 patients were cultured in osteogenic media with and without prior exposure to VitD and BMP-2.