A minimally invasive anterior lumbar interbody fusion at the L5-S1 level

Authors: D. S. Fidalgo, B. Areias, L. C. Sousa, M. Parente, R. Natal, H. Sousa, J. M. Gonçalves

ABSTRACT:

Lumbar spinal fusion has evolved as a treatment option for symptomatic spinal instability, spinal stenosis, spondylolisthesis, and degenerative scoliosis. This work presents a minimally invasive anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF) at the L5-S1 level, applying the SynFix implant in order to investigate spine stability during the recovery considering the early and long-term postoperative phases. In the early postoperative phase, namely for extension load case, rotation angles are much greater than the ones obtained in the long- term postoperative phase, showing a greater spine instability.

Key Words:
anterior lumbar interbody fusion, Finite element method, minimally invasive lumbar fusion, SynFix
Affiliation:

D. S. Fidalgo1 | B. Areias2 | L. C. Sousa2(*) | M. Parente2 | R. Natal2 | H. Sousa3 | J. M.
Gonçalves4
1MIEM, Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal, Portugal
2INEGI e DEMec, Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
3Centro Hospitalar de Vila Nova de Gaia / Espinho, Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal
4Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade do Porto, Hospital da Luz Arrábida, Porto, Portugal