spinal fusion

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.

• Klippel-Feil syndrome

Acquired fusion

Many disease processes can result in fusion of adjacent vertebrae including:

• juvenile idiopathic arthritis
• ankylosing spondylitis

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 than confers long-term stability and that fusion solely with instrumentation will eventually fail .

Hardware

A number of components are used to achieve fusion. These include :

• 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 utilized to achieve fusion. Some of the more common procedures include:

• anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF)
• anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF)
• corpectomy fusion
• extreme lateral interbody fusion (XLIF)
• posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF)
• transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF)

Siehe auch:

• Blockwirbel
• Wirbelsäulentrauma
• Spondylodese Atlas - Axis

und weiter:

• lumbale Blockwirbel