Spinal fusion (overview)
Updates to Article Attributes
Spinal fusion is a broad term to denote the joining of two or more adjacent vertebral segments. Fusion can be congenital or acquired as a direct result of disease or deliberately following spinal surgery.
Congenital fusion
Fusion of two or more adjacent segments is encountered either as an isolated, usually incidental, finding or in a variety of conditions with multiple other defects.
Acquired fusion
Many disease processes can result in fusion of adjacent vertebrae including:
Operative fusion
Numerous procedures have been developed over the years to fuse spinal segments to treat a variety of conditions (e.g. spondylolisthesis, unstable spinal fractures, disc protrusions). It should be noted that it is osseous fusion that confers long-term stability and that fusion solely with instrumentation will eventually fail 1.
Hardware
A number of components are used to achieve fusion. These include 1:
- connecting rods
- Hartshill rectangles
- interbody spacers/cages
- laminar hooks
- plates
- screws
- pedicle screws
- facet joint screws
- translaminar screws
- vertebral body replacement devices
- wires
Techniques
One or more of the above-mentioned components can be utilised to achieve fusion. Some of the more common procedures include:
- anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF)
anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF)- corpectomy fusion
- lumbar interbody fusion 2
-<li><a href="/articles/anterior-lumbar-interbody-fusion-alif">anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF)</a></li>-<li><a title="Lateral lumbar interbody fusion (LLIF)" href="/articles/lateral-lumbar-interbody-fusion-llif">lateral/eXtreme/direct lumbar interbody fusion (LLIF/XLIF/DLIF)</a></li>- +<li><a href="/articles/lateral-lumbar-interbody-fusion-llif">lateral/eXtreme/direct lumbar interbody fusion (LLIF/XLIF/DLIF)</a></li>
Image 1 X-ray (Lateral) ( update )
Image 2 X-ray (Frontal) ( update )
Image 3 CT (bone window) ( update )
Image 4 CT (3D VR) ( update )
Image 5 X-ray (Lateral) ( update )
Image 6 X-ray (Lateral) ( update )
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