Background The lateral transpsoas approach to the lumbar spine was developed to eliminate the need for an anterior-approach surgeon and retraction of the great vessels and has the potential for shorter operative times. However, the reported complications associated with this approach vary. Questions/purposes We identified the incidence of complications associated with the lateral transpsoas approach to the lumbar spine. Patients and Methods We retrospectively reviewed 45 patients who underwent a lateral transpsoas approach to the spine for various diagnoses between January 1, 2006, and October 31, 2010. The patients' average age was 63.3 years. Sixteen (35.6%) patients had prior lumbar spinal surgery.Twenty-one patients (46.7%) underwent supplemental posterior instrumentation. Minimum followup was 0 months (mean, 11 months; range, 0-34 months). Results Eighteen of the 45 patients (40%) had complications: 10 (22.2%) developed postoperative iliopsoas weakness, three had quadriceps weakness, and one experienced foot drop. Eight patients (17.8%) developed anterior thigh hypoesthesia, which did not fully resolve in seven of the eight patients at an average of 9 months' followup. Three patients had postoperative radiculopathies, one a durotomy, and one died postoperatively from a pulmonary embolism. Conclusions We found a 40% incidence of complications and a nontrivial frequency and severity of postoperative weakness, numbness, and radicular pain in patients who underwent a lateral transpsoas approach to the spine. Given the expanding use of the approach, a thorough understanding of the risks associated with it is essential for patient education, medical decision making, and identifying methods of reducing such complications.

Study Design Retrospective cohort study. Objective To determine the short-term outcomes of two different lateral approaches to the lumbar spine. Methods This was a retrospective review performed with four fellowship-trained spine surgeons from a single institution. Two different approach techniques were identified. (1) Traditional transpsoas (TP) approach: dissection was performed through the psoas performed using neuromonitored sequential dilation. (2) Direct visualization (DV) approach: retractors are placed superficial to the psoas followed by directly visualized dissection through psoas. Outcome measures included radiographic fusion and adverse event (AE) rate. Results In all, 120 patients were identified, 79 women and 41 men. Average age was 64.2 years (22 to 86). When looking at all medical and surgical AEs, 31 patients (25.8%) had one or more AEs; 22 patients (18.3%) had a total of 24 neurologically related AEs; 15 patients (12.5%) had anterior/lateral thigh dysesthesias; 6 patients (5.0%) had radiculopathic pain; and 3 patients (2.5%) had postoperative weakness. Specifically, for neurologic AEs, the DV group had a rate of 28.0% and the TP group had a rate of 14.2% (p < 0.18). When looking at the rate of neurologic AEs in patients undergoing single-level fusions only, the DV group rate was 28.6% versus 10.2% for the TP group (p < 0.03). Conclusion Overall, 18.3% of patients sustained a postoperative neurologic AE following lateral interbody fusions. The TP approach had a statistically lower rate of neurologic-specific AE for single-level fusions.

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