Incidence of surgical site infection following lateral lumbar interbody fusion compared with posterior/transforminal lumbar interbody fusion: A propensity score-weighted study.

In this large retrospective cohort study of adults undergoing lumbar interbody fusion, LLIF was associated with a significantly lower risk of SSI than P/TLIF. The small, but significantly, decreased risk of SSI associated with LLIF may inform decisions regarding the technical approach for lumbar interbody fusion.We compared the risk of SSI between 2,874 patients who underwent LLIF and 24,245 patients who received P/TLIFPatients who had received LLIF were significantly less risk of experiencing an SSI compared with those receiving P/TLIF (0.7% vs. 1.2%; weighted OR, 0.57; 95% CI, 0.36-0.92; P=0.02).As a secondary outcome, patients who had received LLIF had less risk of transfusion (7.8% vs. 11.8%; weighted OR, 0.63; 95% CI, 0.54-0.73; P<0.001).