Major vessel positions between prone and lateral lumbar interbody fusion: a magnetic resonance

Introduction: Anatomical studies of the position of major vessels showed that the aorta tends to be closer to the anterior part of the vertebrate body than the vena cava. Furthermore, the authors showed that the position in the left decubitus tends to bring the vessels closer to the vertebrate body and that this position is opposite to what they observed in the right decubitus. Moreover, the study show that the more caudal the level, the closer the major vessels are to the vertebral body. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to investigate the changes in the position of the major vessels between the prone, dorsal, and supine position.

Methods: Retrospective, comparative, cohort study. The following variables were evaluated horizontal distance and vertical distance.

Results: Twenty-five patients were included in the study, the only variables that showed significance were horizontal distance between the prone and lateral position.

Conclusion : The major vessel did not suffer significant forward nor backward push in prone position compared to the lateral decubitus, which could imply that the safety of prone position lateral interbody fusion is similar to the standard lateral lumbar interbody fusion regarding the risk of major vessels injuries.