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The Christoferson-modified, BriggsMilligan method of interbody fusion and stabilisation. Reprinted from Posterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion. Lin PM, ed. Springfield: Charles C Thomas; 1982. Courtesy of Charles C Thomas Publisher.
Source publication
Today, the Posterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion (PLIF), and other related fusion methods invented subsequently, represent the gold standard in spinal arthrodesis. However, despite the PLIF being first performed in the 1940s, its reputation was marked by animosity for the next fifty years. Only due to the extraordinary talent and perseverance from a se...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... the union rate in some groups was as low as 26%, leading the posterior route to be abandoned [35]. Similar experiences were reported by Adkins' contemporary compatriots, who described PLIF as unreliable and causing unnecessary complications [36] (Figure 10). ...
Context 2
... although interest in the procedure existed, few surgeons were able to produce acceptable results ( Figure 10). PLIF was regarded as providing no greater fusion rate, increasing bleed loss, and with increased risk of neural damage retraction [39]. ...
Context 3
... despite this, by the end of the 1970s, little change had occurred. A 1977 survey of all North American neurosurgery programmes noted that only three of the sixty-eight training schemes included PLIF in their curriculum (Figure 11). Though this only provided insight into the perspective of the American neurosurgical community, it seemed to speak to the wider surgical consensus. ...
Context 4
... change of perspective was orchestrated in large part by Paul Lin (Figure 12), a Chinese neurosurgeon, later based in Philadelphia. He began performing PLIFs in the 1970s and developed a modified technique that maintained more of the facets and the cortical endplates, allowing for greater post-operative stability and prevention of graft subsidence. ...
Context 5
... his first series, he reported a 94% fusion rate in 75 cases [68]. Like Cloward, Lin held strong belief in the operation, which led him to organise the first "PLIF Workshop", held at Nazareth Hospital in 1981 [39] (Figure 13) and then the first "PLIF Symposium" held at Temple Hospital in 1983 [69], both in Philadelphia. Richard Cautilli recalls that these programmes were especially effective in bridging the divide between the orthopaedic and neurological specialties [18]. ...
Context 6
... of the greatest advocates for the combination of PLIF and instrumentation was Art Steffee (Figure 14), an orthopaedic surgeon from Cleveland, who rose to prominence as the primary innovator of pedicle screws in the United States. In particular, he understood that the pedicle screw struggled mechanically without anterior column support, which led to instrumentation failure. ...
Context 7
... invention of PLIF cages, which separated the biomechanical and osteogenic roles that the bone graft needed to serve, evaded this concern. Cloward had experimented with plastic spacers as early as 1952 [16] (Figure 15) and in more recent years, implants for vertebrectomies and anterior approaches had been developed [86][87][88][89] however, the commercial production of interbody cages and spacers finally provided the capacity for all spinal surgeons to experience success with PLIF. ...
Context 8
... ( Figure 14) and in more recent years, implants for vertebrectomies and anterior approaches had been developed [86][87][88][89] however, the commercial production of interbody cages and spacers finally provided the capacity for all spinal surgeons to experience success with PLIF (Table 3). ...
Context 9
... reading the edition on PLIF in Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research in 1985, John Brantigan from Baltimore (Figure 14), noted that an intervertebral cage would be better suited to withstanding anterior column stresses than the iliac grafts that Lin and Cloward had used. He showed prototypes to Art Steffee and together they designed a carbon fibre box that became known as the Brantigan Cage [37,90]. ...
Context 10
... resulting design was a cylindrical cage that could screw into bone, called the Ray Threaded Fusion cage. Steve Kuslich became aware of Bagby's work and began a collaboration in 1985, creating a similar, threaded cylinder called the BAK cage [76,94], named for Bagby and Kuslich (Figure 16). ...
Context 11
... "insert and rotate technique" that Ovens, Williams and Jaslow had innovated in the 1940s saw a resurgence with the design of disc space preparation instruments in the 1980s by Lerat in France [38,63,65] (Figure 17), and by John Collis and Steffee [70] in North America. Additional to the second generation, lordotic Brantigan cage, Steffee invented a lordotic The Development of PLIF x "ramp" which employed the "insert and rotate" technique, which has led this technique to become a popular method of PLIF ( Figure 16). ...
Context 12
... "insert and rotate technique" that Ovens, Williams and Jaslow had innovated in the 1940s saw a resurgence with the design of disc space preparation instruments in the 1980s by Lerat in France [38,63,65] (Figure 17), and by John Collis and Steffee [70] in North America. Additional to the second generation, lordotic Brantigan cage, Steffee invented a lordotic The Development of PLIF x "ramp" which employed the "insert and rotate" technique, which has led this technique to become a popular method of PLIF ( Figure 16). ...
Context 13
... complexities such as sagittal balance reconstruction with lordotic implants and pedicle subtraction osteotomies have also been innovated as by-products of the PLIF's development. In these ways, PLIF continues to be improved upon ( Figure 18). ...
Context 14
... the union rate in some groups was as low as 26%, leading the posterior route to be abandoned [35]. Similar experiences were reported by Adkins' contemporary compatriots, who described PLIF as unreliable and causing unnecessary complications [36] (Figure 10). ...
Context 15
... although interest in the procedure existed, few surgeons were able to produce acceptable results ( Figure 10). PLIF was regarded as providing no greater fusion rate, increasing bleed loss, and with increased risk of neural damage retraction [39]. ...
Context 16
... despite this, by the end of the 1970s, little change had occurred. A 1977 survey of all North American neurosurgery programmes noted that only three of the sixty-eight training schemes included PLIF in their curriculum (Figure 11). Though this only provided insight into the perspective of the American neurosurgical community, it seemed to speak to the wider surgical consensus. ...
Context 17
... change of perspective was orchestrated in large part by Paul Lin (Figure 12), a Chinese neurosurgeon, later based in Philadelphia. He began performing PLIFs in the 1970s and developed a modified technique that maintained more of the facets and the cortical endplates, allowing for greater post-operative stability and prevention of graft subsidence. ...
Context 18
... his first series, he reported a 94% fusion rate in 75 cases [68]. Like Cloward, Lin held strong belief in the operation, which led him to organise the first "PLIF Workshop", held at Nazareth Hospital in 1981 [39] (Figure 13) and then the first "PLIF Symposium" held at Temple Hospital in 1983 [69], both in Philadelphia. Richard Cautilli recalls that these programmes were especially effective in bridging the divide between the orthopaedic and neurological specialties [18]. ...
Context 19
... of the greatest advocates for the combination of PLIF and instrumentation was Art Steffee (Figure 14), an orthopaedic surgeon from Cleveland, who rose to prominence as the primary innovator of pedicle screws in the United States. In particular, he understood that the pedicle screw struggled mechanically without anterior column support, which led to instrumentation failure. ...
Context 20
... invention of PLIF cages, which separated the biomechanical and osteogenic roles that the bone graft needed to serve, evaded this concern. Cloward had experimented with plastic spacers as early as 1952 [16] (Figure 15) and in more recent years, implants for vertebrectomies and anterior approaches had been developed [86][87][88][89] however, the commercial production of interbody cages and spacers finally provided the capacity for all spinal surgeons to experience success with PLIF. ...
Context 21
... ( Figure 14) and in more recent years, implants for vertebrectomies and anterior approaches had been developed [86][87][88][89] however, the commercial production of interbody cages and spacers finally provided the capacity for all spinal surgeons to experience success with PLIF (Table 3). ...
Context 22
... reading the edition on PLIF in Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research in 1985, John Brantigan from Baltimore (Figure 14), noted that an intervertebral cage would be better suited to withstanding anterior column stresses than the iliac grafts that Lin and Cloward had used. He showed prototypes to Art Steffee and together they designed a carbon fibre box that became known as the Brantigan Cage [37,90]. ...
Context 23
... resulting design was a cylindrical cage that could screw into bone, called the Ray Threaded Fusion cage. Steve Kuslich became aware of Bagby's work and began a collaboration in 1985, creating a similar, threaded cylinder called the BAK cage [76,94], named for Bagby and Kuslich (Figure 16). ...
Context 24
... "insert and rotate technique" that Ovens, Williams and Jaslow had innovated in the 1940s saw a resurgence with the design of disc space preparation instruments in the 1980s by Lerat in France [38,63,65] (Figure 17), and by John Collis and Steffee [70] in North America. Additional to the second generation, lordotic Brantigan cage, Steffee invented a lordotic The Development of PLIF x "ramp" which employed the "insert and rotate" technique, which has led this technique to become a popular method of PLIF ( Figure 16). ...
Context 25
... "insert and rotate technique" that Ovens, Williams and Jaslow had innovated in the 1940s saw a resurgence with the design of disc space preparation instruments in the 1980s by Lerat in France [38,63,65] (Figure 17), and by John Collis and Steffee [70] in North America. Additional to the second generation, lordotic Brantigan cage, Steffee invented a lordotic The Development of PLIF x "ramp" which employed the "insert and rotate" technique, which has led this technique to become a popular method of PLIF ( Figure 16). ...
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