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Spine
intermediate
X-Type

Spinal Fusion Principles

Spine Surgery

A spine surgeon is planning a posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) for a 55-year-old patient with degenerative spondylolisthesis. She is discussing graft options, instrumentation, and factors that affect fusion success with her team. Regarding spinal fusion principles:

Mark each as TRUE or FALSE

A

Successful spinal fusion requires osteoconduction (scaffold for bone ingrowth), osteoinduction (stim...

B

Allograft provides osteoconduction and weak osteoinduction but no osteogenesis; demineralized bone m...

C

Allograft is superior to autograft for fusion; ceramics provide osteogenesis; BMP has no side effect...

D

Risk factors for pseudarthrosis include smoking (most significant, 2-3x risk), diabetes, malnutritio...

E

Interbody fusion techniques (ALIF, PLIF, TLIF, LLIF) provide anterior column support, restore disc h...

Answer the questions to see explanations

Click T (True) or F (False) for each option