The risks of an anterior approach to lumbar spine surgery have yet to be fully explored, but researchers reported recently that the most common surgery-related complications occurred in only 1% to 3% of patients.
FeaturedThe researchers conducted a systematic review of available literature to identify articles published between January 1992 and December 2013 that discussed complications associated with anterior lumbar spine surgery. A total of 76 articles comprising 11,410 patients who underwent arthrodesis and/or arthroplasty via laparoscopic, mini-open and open techniques met the inclusion criteria for the final study.
An overall complication rate across all of the studies was 14.1%, with intraoperative and postoperative complication rates of 9.1% and 5.2%, respectively, according to the researchers. 
Venous injury (3.2%) and retrograde ejaculation (2.7%) were the two most common complications related to the procedures. Neurologic injury (2%), prosthesis-related (2%), postoperative ileus (1.4%), superficial infection (1%) and others (1.3%) rounded out the list of complications for the procedure.