Introduction of Special Issue: Advancement and Preparation of Spine Surgery and Treatment for Future Humanity
Article information
In this special issue, the first Journal of Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery and Technique (JMISST) publication of 2026, we discussed the advancement and preparation for spine surgery and treatment for future humanity. It is a great honor to be the guest editor of this special edition with my valuable team members working on various important topics which touch on complex spinal conditions which are treated with minimally invasive surgery. There is strong interest in minimally invasive spinal surgery as expectation of our patients have evolved from treatment of spinal conditions to treatment of spinal conditions with less disruption to their daily routine and minimising the psychological and physical trauma associated with spinal surgery. In this modern spinal treatment. Hence it is an appropriate time as we step into 2026, to discuss these advanced versions of spinal treatments [1,2]. We have Risdianto et al. [3] describing an article on the endoscopic anatomy of lumbar spine which sets the tone of knowledge required for preparation of spinal surgery to perform more complex spinal surgery using unilateral biportal endoscopy or uniportal endoscopy. While Palsma et al. [4] described the use of tubular retraction for intradural and extramedullary spine pathology, it showed that minimally invasive technique is safe and effective for intradural extramedullary (IDEM) pathology compared to traditional open technique which laid down a strong foundation for research for future treatment of IDEM. Preservation of facet joints in the spinal endoscopy is a topic which we often discussed about [5]. Kim et al. [6] also described the superiority of selective superior articular process resection compared to transforaminal endoscopic lumbar foraminotomy.
For chronic back pain, there has been strong interest in radiofrequency ablation of basivertebral nerve. The earlier description of function and anatomy of basivertebral nerve had been highlighted well by Kim and Wu et al. [2,7] In this edition, we discussed a currently hot topic of Image-Guided Bilateral Transpedicular Basivertebral Nerve Ablation in Vertebrogenic Pain: Early Experience With Expanded Indications by Smith et al. [8] which further opens up research interest on the role of basivertebral nerve radiofrequency ablation as treatment of chronic lower back pain.
Lumbar interbody fusion is a topic which is of importance for future treatment direction [9]. We have several articles in this edition which discussed minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) compared to open TLIF. First is by Cheong et al. [10] which discussed minimally invasive surgery TLIF has an advantage in less radiographic adjacent segment degeneration with noninferiority in fusion rate and long-term outcomes compared to open spinal fusion. Lee et al. [11] discussed that 3-dimensional (3D) printed cages had better short-term outcomes and noninferior long-term outcomes compared to open TLIF. Park et al. [12] also compared expandable cage with polyetheretherketone cage in 2 cohorts of patients who underwent endoscopic fusion.
Cervical screw placement is of great concern to all spine surgeons due to precarious and concise anatomy while limited bone stock for large screws. We have several articles in our special edition which discuss this important topic. There is a comparative meta-analysis for 3D printed navigated guide in comparison with spinal navigation for cervical pedicle screw fixation by Sarasombath et al. [13] and Wongthawat et al. [14] described the current evidence and future direction of endoscopic cervical odontoid screw fixation. We are delighted to present this important advancement of techniques for precise placement of screws in cervical spine.
Finally, we have case reports on important topics such as nerve root herniation due to delayed dural tear management after spinal endoscopy by Lee et al., [15] unilateral biportal endoscopic (UBE) resection of cervical laminar osteoid osteoma by Song and Jung [16] which further supports the use of UBE first described by Hung et al. [17] in osteoid osteoma. An important discussion by Özkara et al. [18] on minimally invasive multilevel decompression and irrigation for holospinal subdural abscess highlights that we can do complex spinal surgery with the minimally invasive techniques.
Overall, in this exciting first edition of JMISST in 2026, we have a line up of great articles discussing various aspects of spinal surgery done with the latest minimally invasive techniques to improve the future of humanity. We thank our team of editorial board members, our authors and our visionary chief editor Prof Hyeun Sung Kim for completion of this special edition of JMISST.
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Conflicts of Interest
PHW, a member of the Editorial Board of Journal of Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery & Technique, is the corresponding author of this article. However, he played no role whatsoever in the editorial evaluation of this article or the decision to publish it. Except for that, no potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.