Study design:

Retrospective Comparative Study.

Objective:

The purpose of this study was to characterize trends in surgical approach for single-level lumbar fusion over the past decade.

Summary of background data:

The number of elective lumbar fusion cases performed is increasing annually. Several different surgical approaches exist for lumbar spinal fusion including novel anterior approaches developed in recent years. With ongoing innovation, trends in the utilization of common surgical approaches in recent years are unclear.

Materials and methods:

A retrospective cohort study was conducted using the PearlDiver database (Fort Wayne, IN). Patients undergoing single-level lumbar fusion between 2010 and 2019 were identified using Current Procedural Technology codes and divided into 4 mutually exclusive cohorts based on surgical approach: (1) anterior-only, (2) anterior approach with posterior instrumentation, (3) posterolateral, and (4) posterior-only interbody. Trend analyses of surgical approach utilization over the last decade were performed with the Cochran-Armitage test to evaluate the 2-tailed null hypothesis that utilization of each surgical approach for single-level lumbar fusion remained constant.

Results:

A total of 53,234 patients met inclusion criteria and were stratified into 4 cohorts: anterior-only (n=5104), anterior with posterior instrumentation (n=23,515), posterolateral (n=5525), and posterior-only interbody (n=19,090). Trend analysis revealed the utilization of a posterior-only interbody approach significantly decreased from 36.7% to 29.2% (P<0.001), whereas the utilization of a combined anterior and posterior approach significantly increased from 45.8% to 50.4% (P<0.001). The utilization of an anterior-only approach also significantly increased from 7.9% to 10.5% (P<0.001).

Conclusions:

Utilization of anterior-only and anterior with posterior instrumentation approaches for single-level lumbar fusion have been significantly increasing over the past decade while use of posterior-only interbody approach trended significantly downward. These data may be particularly useful for trainees and spine surgeons as new techniques and technology become available.

Level of evidence:

Level III-retrospective cohort study.