Objectives: To evaluate clinical, radiological outcomes of mini-open transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) for treatment of lumbar spondylolisthesis. Subjects and methods: A prospective study included 62 patients with mini-open TLIF. Clinical outcomes were assessed using Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), Visual Analogue Scores (VAS) and Macnab. Intervertebral height and fusion status were evaluated on CT-scanner. | Journal of military pharmaco-medicine THE MINI-OPEN TRANSFORAMINAL LUMBAR INTERBODY FUSION FOR TREATMENT OF SINGLE LEVEL SPONDYLOLISTHESIS Pham Vo Ky*; Vu Van Hoe** Nguyen Hung Minh**; Nguyen Van Hung** SUMMARY Objectives: To evaluate clinical, radiological outcomes of mini-open transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) for treatment of lumbar spondylolisthesis. Subjects and methods: A prospective study included 62 patients with mini-open TLIF. Clinical outcomes were assessed using Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), Visual Analogue Scores (VAS) and Macnab. Intervertebral height and fusion status were evaluated on CT-scanner. Results: Sixty-two patients underwent mini-open TLIF. The average age was years. The mean follow-up period was months. Operation time was min and estimated blood losses were mL. VAS back was significantly improved from to , VAS leg from to , ODI from to (p < ). Macnab: exellent (), good () and fair (). The fusion rate was 100% at the final follow-up. Postoperative intervertebral height was significantly improved from to (p < ). Conclusions: Mini-open TLIF is a safe and effective method for achieving good clinical outcomes and high fusion rates. This procedure is particularly useful in restoring intervertebral height. * Keywords: Transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion; Mini-open; Spondylolisthesis. INTRODUCTION In 1982, Harms and Rolinger [1] described the open transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) technique. The advantages of the TLIF procedure include the circumferential fusion via a single posterolateral approach, less retraction of the thecal sac and nerve root, lower incidence of neural injury. The traditional open TLIF causes vascular and neurologic damage of the lumbar muscles. On the other hand, minimally invasive approaches can be used to diminish soft-tissue injury. In 2003, Foley [2] first introduced minimally invasive .
