Researchers conducted a prospective cohort study. For an investigation, the researchers sought to determine if oblique lateral interbody fusion (OLIF) and minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (MI-TLIF) have different clinical and radiological outcomes. At the patients’ request and the surgeons’ discretion, 137 patients were assigned to OLIF or MI-TLIF between August 3, 2019, and February 3, 2020: 71 in the OLIF group and 66 in the MI-TLIF group. Researchers compared the 2 groups in perioperative data, patient-reported results, radiographic outcomes, and complications. The OLIF group had a shorter operation time (110.5 vs 183.8 minutes, P<0.001), a lower estimated blood loss (123.1 vs 232.0 mL, P<0.001), a shorter length of hospital stay (5.5 vs 6.7 days, P<0.001), and a lower serum creatine kinase (CK) (1 day postoperatively) (376.0 vs 541.8 IU/L, P<0.01) than the Preoperatively, at 1, 3, and 12 months postoperatively, there were no significant differences in the visual analog scale (VAS) scores of lower back and leg pain or the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) scores between the 2 groups (P>0.05). OLIF had a greater complication rate than MI-TLIF (29.4% vs 9.7%, P<0.01). OLIF performed similarly to MI-TLIF in terms of patient-reported outcomes, SLA restoration, and fusion rate while outperforming MI-TLIF in terms of DH and LLA restoration, operation duration, anticipated blood loss, length of hospital stay, and serum CK levels (1 day postoperatively). Even though the complication rate of OLIF was higher than that of MI-TLIF, the patients did not suffer long-term or significant harm.
