ObjectiveTo investigate the clinical results and complication prevention of minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (MIS-TLIF) in the treatment of single-segment severe lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS).MethodsThe clinical data of 112 patients with severe LSS treated with MIS-TLIF between January 2010 and January 2017 were retrospectively analyzed. There were 43 males and 69 females, aged 52-81 years, with an average age of 65.3 years. The disease duration ranged from 4 to 126 months, with an average of 10.5 months. Clinical manifestations: 104 cases of low back pain, 91 cases of nervous intermittent claudication of both lower limbs, 21 cases of unilateral nerve root pain and/or numbness, and 5 cases of cauda equina nerve injury. The 112 cases were all severe central spinal stenosis, including 32 cases with lateral recess stenosis, 20 cases with foramen stenosis, 9 cases with ossification of ligamentum flavum, 38 cases with disc herniation; 14 cases with two complications and 5 cases with three. Stenosis segment: L3, 4 in 6 cases, L4, 5 in 89 cases, and L5, S1 in 17 cases. Surgical methods included bilateral decompression through bilateral approach (60 cases), bilateral decompression through unilateral approach (15 cases), and unilateral decompression (37 cases). The operation time, intraoperative blood loss, visual analogue scale (VAS) score of low back pain and leg pain, Oswestry disability index (ODI) score, fusion rate, and surgical complications were recorded. At last follow-up, the lumbar fusion was evaluated by Bridwell method, grades Ⅰ and Ⅱ were expressed as fusion.ResultsThe operation time was 83-186 minutes (mean, 126.8 minutes), and the intraoperative blood loss was 65-630 mL (mean, 163.1 mL). All the 112 patients were followed up 25-49 months, with an average of 35.1 months. The VAS score of low back pain and leg pain and ODI score at each time point after operation were significantly improved when compared with preoperative scores (P<0.05). There was no significant difference between the VAS score of low back pain and leg pain and ODI score at the other time points except 1 month after operation (P<0.05). At last follow-up, 2 cases of cauda equina nerve injury recovered and 3 cases partially recovered. According to Bridwell classification criteria, 58 cases were grade Ⅰ, 47 cases were grade Ⅱ, and 7 cases were grade Ⅲ. The fusion rate was 93.8%. Perioperative complications included 5 cases of incision complications (superficial infection in 3 cases, hematoma formation in 2 cases), 19 cases of internal fixator complications (intraoperative end plate fracture in 8 cases, fusion cage sinking in 11 cases at last follow-up), and 15 cases of neurological complications (dural sac tear in 10 cases, transient neurological symptoms of lower extremities aggravated in 5 cases). Conclusion MIS-TLIF treatment of single-level severe LSS can achieve good clinical results, while there is a risk of serious complications. Full understanding of the clinical and imaging features of the disease and reasonable and careful operation are helpful to control the occurrence of cauda equina nerve damage.
Objective A prospective randomized controlled trial was conducted to study the effectiveness and safety of intravenous different doses tranexamic acid (TXA) in single-level unilateral minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (MIS-TLIF). Methods The patients treated with single-level unilateral MIS-TLIF between September 2019 and October 2020 were enrolled and randomly classified into low-dose TXA (LD) group (n=39), high-dose TXA (HD) group (n=39), and placebo-controlled (PC) group (n=38). The LD, HD, and PC groups received intravenous TXA 20 mg/kg, TXA 50 mg/kg, the same volume of normal saline at 30 minute before skin incision after general anesthesia, respectively. There was no significant difference on baseline characteristics and preoperative laboratory results among 3 groups (P>0.05), including age, gender, body mass index, surgical segments, hematocrit (HCT), hemoglobin (HGB), prothrombin time (PT), international normalized ratio (INR), D-dimer, fibrin degradation products (FDP), activated partial prothromboplastin time (APTT), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), creatinine (Cr), urea. The intraoperative blood loss (IBL), postoperative drainage volume, operation time, total blood loss (TBL), hidden blood loss (HBL), blood transfusion, hematological examination indexes on the first day after operation, and the incidence of complications within 1 month were compared among the 3 groups. Results There were 3, 2, and 4 patients in the LD, HD, and PC groups who underwent autologous blood transfusion, respectively, and there was no allogeneic blood transfusion patients in the 3 groups. There was no significant difference in IBL, postoperative drainage volume, and operation time between groups (P>0.05). The TBL, HBL, and the decreased value of HGB in LD and HD groups were significantly lower than those in PC group (P<0.05), and TBL and HBL in HD group were significantly lower than those in LD group (P<0.05); the decreased value of HGB between LD group and HD group showed no significant difference (P>0.05). On the first day after operation, D-dimer in LD and HD groups were significantly lower than that in PC group (P<0.05); there was no significant difference between LD and HD groups (P>0.05). There was no significant difference in other hematological indexes between groups (P>0.05). All patients were followed up 1 month, and there was no TXA-related complication such as deep venous thrombosis of lower extremity, pulmonary embolism, and epilepsy in the 3 groups. ConclusionIntravenous administration of TXA in single-level unilateral MIS-TLIF is effective and safe in reducing postoperative TBL and HBL within 1 day in a dose-dependent manner. Also, TXA can reduce postoperative fibrinolysis markers and do not increase the risk of thrombotic events, including deep venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolism.