Neurosurgeon
Neurosurgeon
Treatment / Procedures / LLIF / XLIF
A minimally disruptive fusion through the side. Reaches the disc through the flank without disturbing the back muscles, effective for multilevel disease and adult deformity. Niceville, Florida.
LLIF reaches the lumbar discs from the side through the psoas muscle, allowing a wide cage with minimal disruption to the back muscles.
Lateral lumbar interbody fusion, also called LLIF, XLIF, or DLIF, reaches the disc space from the patient’s side through a small flank incision and through the psoas muscle. This side corridor allows a wide cage that spans the full width of the vertebra, the largest footprint for a given disc space, without disturbing the back muscles.
LLIF is especially useful for multilevel degenerative disc disease, adult degenerative scoliosis correction, and cases that need significant indirect nerve decompression through height restoration. Because it avoids the back muscles, blood loss and post-surgery pain are lower than with open back approaches.
LLIF is usually combined with small screws placed from behind through tiny incisions to complete the construct. Dr. Enguidanos performs LLIF at HCA Florida Twin Cities Hospital in Niceville, Florida, for patients who need multilevel lumbar reconstruction.
LLIF is recommended only after appropriate non-surgical care has not resolved the problem. Physical therapy, medication, activity changes, and injections are evaluated first.
When multilevel degeneration or deformity continues to cause symptoms despite conservative care, LLIF offers a less disruptive way to address several levels at once.
The patient is positioned on their side. A small flank incision reaches the space behind the abdominal cavity. The psoas muscle is gently spread, not cut, using gradual dilation under nerve monitoring to protect the nerves within the muscle.
A retractor opens a working corridor directly to the side of the disc. The disc is removed and the endplates are prepared, then a wide cage packed with bone graft is placed to restore height and correct deformity. The side wound is closed and small screws are added from behind to complete the construct.
TLIF is one of several ways to fuse the lumbar spine. The right approach depends on the level, your anatomy, and the goals of surgery.
Reaches the disc and places a cage from behind through a single incision, the most common lumbar fusion.
Reaches the disc from the front for the largest cage and best height restoration at L5-S1.
Every patient who walks through our door follows the same path. It starts with listening and ends only at surgery if nothing else works.
Dr. Enguidanos meets with you personally. He reviews your imaging, takes your full history, and listens carefully to your lifestyle, your goals, and what has and has not worked so far.
In-person with Dr. EnguidanosSurgery is never the first answer. Before any procedure is considered, every appropriate non-surgical option is explored — physical therapy, medication management, injections, and regenerative medicine.
Physical therapy, injections, regenerative medicineWhen conservative care has been exhausted and surgery is the right answer, Dr. Enguidanos applies thirty years of surgical depth. From minimally invasive procedures to complex deformity reconstruction, every level is handled.
Only when everything else has been consideredDR. STEPHEN T. ENGUIDANOS MD | SPINE SURGERY | NICEVILLE, FL
Your information is private and will never be shared.
DR. STEPHEN T. ENGUIDANOS MD | SPINE SURGERY | NICEVILLE, FL
Your information is private and will never be shared.