Jason S. Cheng, MD (Department of Neurological Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, California), Cheerag Upadhyaya, MD, MSC (Department of Neurological Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, California; Kadlec Neuroscience Center, Richland, Washington), Jau-Ching Wu, MD (Department of Neurological Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, California), Tsung-Hsi Tu, MD (Department of Neurological Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, California), and Praveen V. Mummaneni, MD (Department of Neurological Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, California)

Minimally invasive surgical (MIS) approaches have gained popularity in many surgical fields. Potential advantages to a minimally invasive, spinal intradural approach include decreased operative blood loss, shorter hospitalization, and less post-operative pain. Potential disadvantages include longer operative times, decreased exposure, and difficulty closing the dura. Prior case series from our group and others have demonstrated successful tumor resections using MIS techniques without increased complications. In this 3D video, we demonstrate the key steps in our mini-open, transpinous approach for the resection of an intradural, extramedullary lumbar schwannoma.