title: Use of lateral access in the treatment of the revision spine patient.
abstract: With the rate of spinal surgery increasing, we have seen a concomitant increase in the number of revision cases. It is, therefore, important to have a systematic approach to the management of these complicated patients with unique problems. A thorough understanding of the different pathologies affecting revision spine patients is critical to an effective treatment recommendation. Lateral access is a useful management approach since it can avoid the complications of operating through previous approaches. Furthermore, it possesses certain advantages for treatment in specific circumstances outlined in this paper. Long-term studies are needed to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of the lateral approach compared to the anterior and posterior approaches in the treatment of revision spine patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of California, Irvine Medical Center, 101 City Drive, Pavillion 3, Orange, CA 92868, USA. sbederma@uci.edu
authors.forename: Samuel S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Bederman
authors.forename: Vu H
authors.initials: VH
authors.lastname: Le
authors.forename: Sohrab
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pahlavan
authors.forename: Douglas P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Kiester
authors.forename: Nitin N
authors.initials: NN
authors.lastname: Bhatia
authors.forename: Vedat
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Deviren
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D012086:Reoperation / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013122:Spinal Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D016896:Treatment Outcome