The biggest challenge when it comes to spine surgery is that the spine is located deep within the body, protected by thick muscle at the back and hidden under major organs and blood vessels in front. With traditional spine surgery, the back must be opened up and the muscles cut or dissected in order to access the spine, creating a significant amount of soft tissue damage. Anterior (from the front) approaches spare the back muscles, but put major blood vessels and the genitourinary tract at risk.