ABSTRACT
References 407
1. INTRODUCTION
Video-assisted thoracoscopic (VAT) surgery has recently gained increasing popularity in
the management of spinal disorders. Thoracoscopic spinal applications represent a new
technique, not a new operation, and true it is minimal access surgery but it is definitely
not minimally invasive. The endoscopic approach to the spine has involved an evolution-
ary approach. What began as an isolated drainage of a vertebral abscess has continued as a
method of single diskectomy, release of the annulus fibrosis with or without ligation of
segmental vessels, rib resection for thoracoplasty, rib harvesting for intervertebral
fusion, and most recently, insertion of correctional implants and fusion. The body of
knowledge currently available began with a single report in 1993 (1) and progressed to
about 15 articles in the year 2000 (2-16).
