Introduction: Expandable interbody spacers are part of a relatively new surgical devices, we present the second case reported in the literature of an expandable PEEK interbody spacer.
Methods: 63 year-old male with grade 1 spondylolisthesis at L4-L5 and a large herniated intervertebral disc at the same level causing severe spinal canal stenosis, who underwent decompression with bilateral non-segmental pedicle screw fixation and placement of an expandable PEEK intervertebral device through a TLIF approach
Results: Postoperative imaging (18 months follow-up) evidenced dislodged screw caps and sheared interbody device, leading to revision surgery with removal of spinal hardware and instrumentation with new screw-rod construct and PEEK / titanium interbody device through the approach previously used. Clinical and neurological status has remained unremarkable to date.
Conclusions: Cage migration is a potential complication. This is the second case report of expandable cage failure. We believe that hardware fatigue predisposed the sheared dislodgement of the interbody spacer.
Patient Care: Provide recent outcomes and complications in patients with machined biomechanical expandable interbody devices. Caution must be warranted with new surgical devices and techniques.
Learning Objectives: The authors present and analyze a case report of a patient with hardware failure of a PEEK expandable cage.