A new study published in Spine examines the complications for patients who underwent oblique lateral interbody fusion between April 2013 and May 2015.
The patients underwent OLIF at one of 11 affiliated medical centers. There were 155 patients included in the study and 75 reported complications, for an incident rate of 48.3 percent. The researchers found:
1. The most common complications were:
• Endplate fracture/subsidence: 18.7 percent
• Transient psoas weakness and high numbness: 13.5 percent
• Segmental artery injury: 2.6 percent
2. All but three complications were transient; one patient had ureteral injury and two reported neurological injury.
3. Nearly 2 percent of the patients reported surgical site infection and 1.9 percent had reoperations.
4. The primary operator's experience didn't have an impact on complication rate.
5. The complication rate was 50 percent in the early state and 38 percent in the late stage.
"Our analysis based on surgeon experience indicated that the OLIF procedure could be performed without increasing incidence of complications, under guidance of experienced supervisors," concluded the study authors.