Purpose:
To review the literature comparing paraspinal muscle degeneration rates on MRI between patients who underwent traditional open Lumbar Interbody Fusion (LIF) versus Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) techniques like Percutaneous Pedicle Fixation (PPF).
Methods:
The PubMed, Scopus, and EMBASE databases were searched using keywords like ‘Lumbar Fusion’, ‘Percutaneous’, ‘Open’, ‘Paraspinal’, ‘Muscle Degeneration’, and ‘MRI’. Ten studies were found, and their results were compared.
Results:
Ten relevant studies were included for comparative analysis. Findings were inconsistent, with conflicting evidence as to whether percutaneous approaches result in statistically significant reductions in paraspinal muscle degeneration when compared to open surgery LIFs. There were few studies exploring paraspinal muscle degeneration following anterior and lateral fusion procedures.
Conclusions:
Further studies are required to comprehensively assess paraspinal muscle changes for the entire paraspinal region and individual muscles like the multifidus and erector spinae. Muscle Fat Infiltration (MFI) should be used over cross-sectional area (CSA) because it is not affected by metal rod interference on MRI.
Key words: Lumbar Fusion, Percutaneous, Open, Paraspinal Muscle Degeneration, MRI