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The minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (MIS-TLIF) is a popular surgical technique for lumbar arthrodesis, widely considered to hold great efficacy while conferring an impressive safety profile through the minimization of soft tissue damage. This elegant approach to lumbar stabilization is the byproduct of several innovations throughout the past century. In 1934, Mixter and Barr’s paper in the New England Journal of Medicine elucidated the role of disc herniation in spinal instability and radiculopathy, prompting surgeons to explore new approaches and instruments to access the disc space. In 1944, Briggs and Milligan published their novel technique, the posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF), involving continuous removal of vertebral bone chips and replacement of the disc with a round bone peg. The following decades witnessed several PLIF modifications, including the addition of long pedicle screws. In 1982, Harms and Rolinger sought to redefine the posterior corridor by approaching the disc space through the intervertebral foramen, establishing the transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF). In the 1990s, lumbar spine surgery experienced a paradigm shift, with surgeons placing increased emphasis on tissuesparing minimally invasive techniques. Spurred by this revolution, Foley and Lefkowitz published the novel MIS-TLIF technique in 2002. The MIS-TLIF has demonstrated comparable surgical outcomes to the TLIF, with an improved safety profile. Here, we present a view into the history of the posterior-approach treatment of the discogenic radiculopathy, culminating in the MIS-TLIF. Additionally, we evaluate the hallmark characteristics, technical variability, and reported outcomes of the modern MIS-TLIF and take a brief look at technologies that may define the future MIS-TLIF.

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Background: The Altmetric (Digital Science, Holtzbrinck Publishing) Attention Score (AAS) is an automatically calculated score that accounts for other literary influences, which include academic sources as well as nonacademically focused social media outlets such as Twitter, Facebook, and news articles. This study compares the most popular cervical surgery articles on social media to the most cited articles within peer-reviewed literature and identifies journals that contribute the most articles and geographic trends.Methods: We searched the Altmetric database for cervical spine surgery articles since inception using the search phrase "cervical" and "spine." We ranked journals that contributed the most articles and calculated their AAS, contributing social media outlets (eg, Twitter, Facebook, News, etc) and citation counts. We also ranked the top 100 most popular cervical spine articles on social media and compared them to the most cited articles. Countries were assessed based on their mentions through the most contributing social media platform.Results: Of the 527 total journals identified in our search, the top 10 journals were responsible for contributing 60.2% of the total articles. The 3 journals that contributed the most articles were Spine (18.9%),

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Shock wave lithotripsy of salivary gland stones has become more and more efficient in the treatment of sialolithiasis during the last years. We use two different methods in our hospital: Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) and endoscopically intracorporeal lithotripsy (EISL). The results of both therapies are compatible; 60-70% could be successfully treated. The indication is different due to the localisation of the salivary gland stone. Stones that are located in the glandula or very proximal in the duct should be fragmented by extracorporeal lithotripsy. Stones located in the duct and multiple intraductal stones should be treated by the intracorporeal method. Clinical experiments showed that some salivary stones do not fragment easily. The reason is still unknown. We examined the ability of fragmentation in relation to the physicochemical analysis of the stone. The stones were examined by infrared spectroscopy. This study revealed that pure carbonate apatite stones are more difficult to destroy than stones containing some protein.