If the system is compromised enough to require fusion, other options will be very limited. The t-spine does not have the mobility of the c-spine and lumbar spine. So, there is no motivation to develop motion preservation technology for it.
Thoracic fusions are not low risk, high success rate surgeries. Video assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) was developed in the 90's to provide less invasive options for thoracic fusions. Now, XLIF is the latest and greatest. At t11-12, they can use XLIF... please look into that and only consider surgeons with a great deal of XLIF experience. The surgeons who teach the procedure wind up with a higher level of experience that most of the other doctors will NEVER get to.
Mark
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