Minimally invasive spine surgery approaches for spinal fusion are based on the location of the disc herniation which may be cervical, thoracic or lumbar.
Spine surgery is inevitable when nonsurgical methods fail to give the desired results in pain management. Those suffering from issues including herniated discs, spinal stenosis, spondylolisthesis, vertebral fractures and degenerative disc disease, are candidates for spinal surgery.
Examples of spine surgery include vertebroplasty, kyphoplasty, spinal laminectomy, discectomy, foraminotomy, nucleoplasty, spinal fusion and artificial disc replacement.
Vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty involve the injection of glue-like bone cement which hardens and strengthens the bones to repair compression fractures in vertebrae which occur due to osteoporosis.
In spinal laminectomy, bony walls of the vertebrae are removed to open the spinal column and remove pressure on nerves.This treats narrowing of spine due to spinal stenosis and relieves the resultant pain, numbness and weakness.
Discectomy which is usually performed along with laminectomy removes herniated disc which in turn pressurizes nerve root or spinal cord.
The bony hole where the nerve root exits the spinal cord, is enlarged through foraminotomy to prevent bulging in discs.
Nucleoplasty or plasma disc decompression is laser surgery which uses radio frequency to treat low back pain (resulting from herniated disc). In nucleoplasty, plasma laser devices with an inserted needle whose tip is heated, creates a field to reduce the tissue size and relieve pressure on the nerves.
Spinal fusion uses bone grafts or metal devices secured by screws to remove disc between vertebrae and fusing it with adjacent vertebrae. Artificial disc replacement replaces spinal fusion methods to treat severely damaged discs.
Spinal instrumentation refers to the spinal implants or devices and hardwares such as plates, pedicle screws, expandable cages, artificial discs, rods, connectors, interspinous stabilization devices, vertebral body tethering, sacroiliac joint fixation devices and interbody devices to name a few.
Instrumentation enhances spinal stability after bone fusion and also treats scoliosis issues. It also creates space during spinal decompression procedure.
Spine surgery is more risky than other surgeries since it is more susceptible to paralysis and infections. Besides long recovery periods, healing depends on the type of surgery and condition before the surgery.
Anesthesia during spine surgery requires special attention since it affects the body’s haemodynamics, blood flow through the body when a patient lies face down during the surgery. It also limits surgeon’s access to the patient’s airway.
Anesthetists therefore work an exclusive plan before, after and throughout the surgery based on the patient’s history and preferences to provide successful pain management.
When one opts for a sensitive decision like spine surgery, experience and learning curve of the surgeon takes the forefront. Dr Karunakaran, best spine specialist in Chennai, has more than 2 decades experience and is backed by a team whose expertise is unparalleled.
With state of art equipments, Dr Karuna Spine Centre offers treatments including discography, PRP methods to treat discogenic issues, fusion techniques, posterolateral gutter fusion surgery, posterior lumbar interbody fusion surgery, transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion surgery, minimally invasive spine surgery, endoscopic surgery and scoliosis surgery to name a few.
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