Treatment of Lumbar Instability: Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion

Transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) was originally described by Blume, Harms and Rollinger in the early 1980s as a surgical method of treating symptomatic lumbar disk degeneration. The TLIF approach offers a number of potential benefits over conventional posterolateral intertransverse arthrodesis including increased fusion surface area, improved fusion blood supply via subchondral cancellous vertebral body bone, complete access for medial canal and lateral recess decompression, and restoration of intervertebral body height. The following manuscript is a technical description of the TLIF procedure.