Does a high BMI affect the outcome of minimally invasive TLIF? A retrospective study of 207 patients

Purpose We investigated whether a high Body Mass Index (BMI) affects the outcomes following Minimally Invasive TLIF (MI-TLIF) for degenerative lumbar pathologies. Methods A retrospective study was undertaken to include patients operated between January 2016 and January 2020 with at least one-year follow-up. Various preoperative and demographic parameters were recorded and the patients were classified into normal, overweight and obese based on the BMI. The operative and outcome measures used for assessment were surgical time, blood loss, number of levels operated upon, skin incision length, day of independent mobilisation, total hospital stay including ICU stay, return to work and Visual Analogue Score (VAS) for back pain (VAS-BP) and leg pain (VAS-LP) and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI). Attainment of Minimal Clinically Important Difference (MCID) for the scores was calculated. Multivariate analyses were done to assess the effect of BMI on different parameters. Results Blood loss and postoperative ICU stay were found to be higher in the obese patients. However, the other variables were comparable. VAS-BP, VAS-LP and ODI scores were significantly improved in all the patients with no inter-group variability. The MCID attainment was also similar. The satisfaction rating at 1-year and willingness for surgery again for similar disease was also similar. The overall complication rate was 14.9% and was comparable among the groups. Multivariate analyses revealed no significant association between BMI and various parameters. Conclusion In patients treated by MI-TLIF for degenerative lumbar spine pathology, BMI is not a factor that negatively affects the functional and clinical outcomes.