Spinal fusion in the lumbar spine has been around for a long time. Frankly, for a while it was overperformed and still in some cases is overperformed. The surgeon has to be very selective about who he performs or she performs a lumbar fusion on, as the outcomes can vary greatly, in certain cases, there’s no choice, such as when the spine is unstable and the patient’s at risk for severe neurologic injury unless the spine becomes stabilized or in cases of fracture or stress fracture.
In other cases, often a less invasive procedure performed on an outpatient basis could be attempted first, and with that minimum intervention, you get the patient good enough where they don’t need the more aggressive fusion.