This is a prospective randomized controlled trial of the Suction-Integrated Surgical Tissue Elevator & Retractor [SISTER] device to assess: - Effects on operative time and efficiency of exposure in open lumbar spine cases. - Effect on total blood loss during the exposure part of the operation. - Rate of clogging of suction device.

Brief Title

Efficacy of Suction Enabled Retraction Device

Official Title

Intraoperative Efficacy of Suction Enabled Retraction Device in Lumbar Spine Surgery

Brief Summary

This is a prospective randomized controlled trial of the Suction-Integrated Surgical Tissue<br /><br /> Elevator & Retractor [SISTER] device to assess:<br /><br /> - Effects on operative time and efficiency of exposure in open lumbar spine cases.<br /><br /> - Effect on total blood loss during the exposure part of the operation.<br /><br /> - Rate of clogging of suction device.

Detailed Description

The device, Suction-Integrated Surgical Tissue Elevator & Retractor [SISTER], is shaped like
a Cobb elevator but also has a hollow core allowing suction tubing to be connected. Thus, a
single hand can be used to retract and suction at the same time while the other hand
separates soft tissue from the bones with electrocautery. This set up which is proposed to be
more efficient will be evaluated in this study.

Outcome Measures

Outcome measures are the tests that investigators perform to prove whether or not a treatment being tested in a clinical trial is having any effect.