Abstract
Fusion across a degenerative lumbar disc space has been accomplished by a variety of methods. The traditional approach has been posterior, with or without instrumentation. Recently, interbody fusion has been augmented with bone dowels and synthetic implants that distract the disc space, thereby decompressing the neural foramen and immobilizing the degenerative motion segment. This article reviews the history of interbody fusion and focuses on anterior and posterior interbody fusion using the BAK (Spine-Techn, Inc, Minneapolis, MN) cage. The technique used at our institution for laparoscopic implantation at L4–5 and L5-S1 is described.