Table 1.

Literature data on results and complications of XLIF in adult scoliosis

Author	Patients	Surgical technique	Results	Complications
Akbarnia et al. [26]	16 patients	XLIF plus posterior instrumentation in patients with coronal Cobb angle >30°	Anterior corrected 45 % of coronal deformity After posterior surgery, 64 % correction (coronal) Average sagittal improvement 13° VAS 6.5–2.5 ODI 60–24	50 % postoperative anterior thigh pain (all transient) Sensory disturbances in 56 % (12 % permanent) Weakness in 12 %, all transient
Tormenti et al. [27]	8 patients	Multilevel XLIF plus posterior instrumentation		2 motor deficits (one permanent) 6 sensory deficits (5 permanent) One bowel perforation One infection causing meningitis and sepsis One pulmonary embolism One dural tear (in the posterior approach)
Dakwar et al. [28]	25 patients	Most XLIF plus lateral plate	One-third of patients did not obtain a good sagittal alignment	One implant failure One cage subsidence Transient anterior thigh numbness in 12 % One case of rhabdomyolysis
Wang et al. [29]	23 patients	XLIF plus percutaneous pedicle screws	Cobb angle corrected from 31° to 10°	Thigh dysesthesia, pain or weakness in 30 %, permanent in one patient No other complications were observed
Keshavarzi et al. [30]	26 patients	Staged XLIF plus posterior instrumentation	Mean correction from 47° to 28° (coronal) after anterior surgery, then to 13° after posterior instrumentation L1–L5 lordosis from 32° to 49° after anterior surgery, then to 51° after posterior After anterior surgery, coronal decompensation that needed correction with posterior instrumentation	Complications not included in the report
Phillips and Kahn [31]	90 patients	Stand alone or bilateral posterior pedicle instrumentation	Stand alone corrected less (9.8 %) than anterior plus posterior bilateral pedicle screw instrumentation (41.5 %) Open pedicle screw instrumentation corrected more than percutaneous
Isaacs et al. [32]	107 patients	Stand alone, XLIF plus lateral plating, XLIF plus percutaneous or open pedicle screw instrumentation		Major complications were more frequent in open posterior instrumentation (20.7 %) than in percutaneous posterior instrumentation (5.8 %) One kidney laceration No major vascular, intestinal or ureteral complications were seen Seven patients had severe or protracted motor deficit (2 of them only after posterior staged surgery)