Background: Extreme Lateral Interbody Fusion (XLIF®) is a well-known transpsoas approach technique that confers advantages including excellent visualization, easy access to the lumbar disc, accommodation for a large anterior graft, restoration of disk height and lumbar alignment, and indirect decompression. However, no study in Thailand has investigated early postoperative complications after spinal fusion with XLIF surgery.

Objective: To determine the early postoperative complication rates among Thai patients that underwent spinal fusion with XLIF procedure.

Materials and Methods: The present study was a retrospective chart review to evaluate perioperative and early postoperative complications in patients that underwent spinal interbody fusion with XLIF procedure and were followed-up for a minimum of three months at the Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand between 2015 and 2019.

Results: One hundred eighteen patients, including 82 females and 36 males, with a mean age of 64.2 years and 165 levels, that were operated upon, were included. Eighty patients (67.8%) underwent one-level fusion, 29 (24.6%) had two-level fusion, and 9 (7.6%) underwent three-level fusion. Immediate postoperative complications occurred in 66 patients (55.9%), consisting of eight (6.7%) with medical complications, 57 (48.3%) with surgical complications, and one (0.8%) with combined medical and surgical complications. Postoperative complications were resolved within three months after surgery in 48 patients. Forty-one patients (34.7%) had postoperative proximal lower limb neuropathy. Only 10 patients (24.4%) still had neuropathy at the 3-month follow-up, but it did not affect their function.

Conclusion: Postoperative proximal limb neuropathy, including thigh numbness, pain, or hip flexor weakness, had a high prevalence in the present study despite intraoperative neurophysiologic monitoring; however, most cases resolved by the 3-month follow-up. Patient education about potential nerve irritation complication is recommended, and meticulous preoperative radiographic assessment and careful step-by-step intraoperative surgical approach may reduce the rates of these postoperative complications.

Keywords: Extreme lateral interbody fusion; Complications; Neuropathy; Postoperative

DOI: doi.org/10.35755/jmedassocthai.2021.06.12292

Received 23 November 2020 | Revised 3 March 2021 | Accepted 9 March 2021