Positioning considerations for lateral lumbar interbody surgery

Lateral Lumbar Interbody fusion has gained popularity as a minimally invasive approach to the thoracolumbar spine which provides indirect neurological decompression, increased fusion mass surface area, and provides coronal and sagittal plane correction of spinal deformity. The Lateral Lumbar Interbody Fusion is traditionally performed in the lateral decubitus position, however, concomitant pathologies in the spine often require ancillary procedures. The purpose of this paper is to describe standard Lateral Lumbar Interbody Fusion positioning considerations as well as to explore multi-position and single position surgeries when two separate approaches are required.