How I do it: the trans-laminar, facet-joint sparing minimal invasive approach for ventral dural repair in spontaneous intracranial hypotension-a 2-dimensional operative video.

[BACKGROUND] We describe the minimally invasive, facet-sparing postero-lateral approach to the thoracic spine for a ventral dural repair in a patient with intracranial hypotension secondary to a spontaneous dural breach.

[METHODS] We performed a minimally invasive approach using a short paramedian posterior skin incision followed by a 10 × 10 mm targeted trans-laminar approach, to achieve a microsurgical repair of a symptomatic ventral dural defect causing severe disability.

[CONCLUSION] The facet-sparing postero-lateral approach is safe and effective in the surgical management of thoracic dural tears, even in the most anterior ones, and avoids the traditional costotransversectomy.