title: Five years' experience of the retroperitoneal lumbar and thoracolumbar surgery.
abstract: Retroperitoneal videoscopic spine surgery has been developed in our department since 1994. It has been used not only at the lumbar, but also at the thoracolumbar and lumbosacral level. Thirty-eight patients have been operated on. We have performed 12 thoracolumbar approaches, 23 lumbar approaches, and 3 retroperitoneal lumbosacral approaches. In every case, a video-assisted technique has been employed. These techniques have been used for anterior grafting in 18 cases of fracture, for corporectomy and grafting with or without anterior osteosynthesis in 6 cases of malunion, for cage implantation or isolated grafting in 10 cases of degenerative disc disease, and for the treatment of 4 cases of spondylodiscitis. Results were satisfactory for every type of pathology. The complications related to the approach were the same as those seen with open surgery; however, the videoscopic approach seems to us less invasive, with cosmetic benefit, less blood loss, and more rapid recovery. A video-assisted technique appears to be a good compromise between videoscopic technique and open surgery. With the development of these techniques, few indications remain for open anterior surgery on the lumbar spine in our opinion.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedic Surgery of the University of Nice Sophia-Antipolis, Hôpital de l'Archet II, France. orthop.nice@wannadoo.fr
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hovorka
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: de Peretti
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Damon
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Arcamone
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Argenson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004724:Endoscopy / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D010535:Laparoscopy; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012187:Retroperitoneal Space; D013904:Thoracic Vertebrae / Q000601:surgery*; D013997:Time Factors