The complications of oblique lateral interbody fusion procedure

Oblique lateral interbody fusion (OLIF) was minimally invasiveprocedure for lumbar interbody fusion (LIF) through the space between anterior margin of retroperitoneal psoas major muscle and the vessels (ATP). Although OLIF had many advantages over other approaches, there were also various kinds of surgical complications, the incidence of which was 3.69%-81.82%. Most of the complications were relieved by conservative or symptomatic treatment. Only a small number of complications were difficult to recover, if so, revision surgery was needed and might remain persistent symptoms. OLIF complications included intraoperative and postoperative complications. Major vascular injury was a dangerous complication during operation, which requires immediate compression or suture to prevent bleeding. The incidence of nerve injury could be reduced by avoiding violent traction and tissue separation and reducing the operation time. When injury of thorax and peritoneum occurs, suture should be done as soon as possible. Transient hip flexion weakness and transient thigh/groin sensory disturbance was the most common post-operative complication, most of which would disappear after several months. Intestinal obstruction is caused by the pulling of peritoneum during operation, most of which was incomplete and would be relieved after some time. Postoperative infection was mostly superficial and would be cured by dressing change and antibiotic application. Subsidence of cage and collapse of intervertebral space were the most common complications related to instrumentations which might not lead to related clinical symptoms; however the severe cases need to be repaired. The incidence of pseudarthrosis is relatively low and a few patients with clinical symptoms need revision surgery. The sample size of most studies was small and follow-up period was short. In the future, large samples and multi-center studies are needed to improve our understanding of OLIF complications in the future.