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Major complications in extreme lateral interbody fusion access: multicentric study by Italian S.O.L.A.S. group

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A Correction to this article was published on 09 October 2020

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Abstract

Purpose

The eXtreme Lateral Interbody Fusion (XLIF) approach has gained increasing importance in the last decade. This multicentric retrospective cohort study aims to assess the incidence of major complications in XLIF procedures performed by experienced surgeons and any relationship between the years of experience in XLIF procedures and the surgeon’s rate of severe complications.

Methods

Nine Italian members of the Society of Lateral Access Surgery (SOLAS) have taken part in this study. Each surgeon has declared how many major complications have been observed during his surgical experience and how they were managed. A major complication was defined as an injury that required reoperation, or as a complication, whose sequelae caused functional limitations to the patient after one year postoperatively. Each surgeon was finally asked about his years of experience in spine surgery and XLIF approach. Pearson correlation test was used to evaluate the association between the surgeon’s years of experience in XLIF and the rate of major complications; a p-value of last than 0.05 was considered significant.

Results

We observed 14 major complications in 1813 XLIF procedures, performed in 1526 patients. The major complications rate was 0.7722%. Ten complications out of fourteen needed a second surgery. Neither cardiac nor respiratory nor renal complications were observed. No significant correlation was found between the surgeon's years of experience in the XLIF procedure and the number of major complications observed.

Conclusion

XLIF revealed a safe and reliable surgical procedure, with a very low rate of major complications, when performed by an expert spine surgeon.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Medicine, Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Neuroscience and Sense Organs, Orthopaedic, Trauma and Spine Unit, University of Bari “Aldo Moro”-AOU Policlinico Consorziale, Bari, Italy

    Andrea Piazzolla, Davide Bizzoca & Biagio Moretti

  2. IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi, Milan, Italy

    Pedro Berjano, Carlo Formica, Claudio Lamartina, Marco Damilano & Aldo Sinigaglia

  3. Ortopedia e Traumatologia A, Centro Regionale Specializzato in Chirurgia Vertebrale, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Integrata Verona (AOUI), Ospedale Borgo Trento, Verona, Italy

    Massimo Balsano

  4. Villa Torri Hospital, Bologna, Italy

    Josip Buric

  5. Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, SS Annunziata, Taranto, Italy

    Stefano Carlucci

  6. Clinica Ortopedica, IRCCS Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria San Martino-IST, Genova, Italy

    Matteo Formica

  7. Unità Operativa Chirurgia della Colonna 2, Humanitas Gavazzeni, Bergamo, Italy

    Corrado Musso & Zullo Nicola

  8. Department of Orthopedic Science and Traumatology. Spine Surgery Division, Catholic University Rome, Rome, Italy

    Francesco Tamburrelli

  9. Azienda Ospedaliera “Istituti Ospitalieri Di Cremona”-U.O.C. Di Neurochirurgia, Cremona, Italy

    Fulvio Tartara

  10. Salvator Mundi International Hospital, Rome, Italy

    Roberto Bassani & Giovanni Casero

  11. GSpine 3, IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi, Milan, Italy

    Massimiliano Neroni & Alessio Lovi

  12. Clinica Neurochirurgica, Città della Salute e della Scienza, “Molinette”, Turin, Italy

    Diego Garbossa

Authors
  1. Andrea Piazzolla
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  2. Davide Bizzoca
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  3. Pedro Berjano
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  4. Massimo Balsano
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  5. Josip Buric
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  20. Zullo Nicola
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  21. Biagio Moretti
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Correspondence to Pedro Berjano.

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Piazzolla, A., Bizzoca, D., Berjano, P. et al. Major complications in extreme lateral interbody fusion access: multicentric study by Italian S.O.L.A.S. group. Eur Spine J 30, 208–216 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00586-020-06542-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00586-020-06542-0

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