ABSTRACT
Anterior surgical exposure of the thoracic, lumbar, and sacral spine is currently used for trauma, deformity, degenerative conditions, and most recently disk replacement surgery. Burns first described an anterior surgical approach for spondylolisthesis in 1933 (1), followed by Ito’s description of anterior spine surgery for Pott’s disease in 1934 (2). Lane and Moore reported a transperitoneal approach for anterior lumbar interbody fusion in 1948 (3), and Iwahara et al. discussed anterior lumbar fusion via a retroperitoneal approach in 1963 (4). Hodgson reported on anterior spinal fusion for spinal tuberculosis in 1960 and on anterior spinal surgery for deranged intervertebral disks and spondylolisthesis in 1968 (5,6). Dwyer used the anterior spinal approach for scoliosis in 1969 (7). Advances in medical technology continue to increase the utility of anterior surgical approaches to the thoracic, lumbar, and sacral spine for a variety of spinal disorders.
