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Written By: Editorial Team | Published : June 21, 2021 2:57 PM IST
Always ask your doctor about the minimally invasive options if you need to go in for spine surgery.
Lower back pain is a common problem which affects millions of people worldwide. Around 90 per cent of the patients don't require surgical procedure. In 10 per cent of the patients, spine surgery is only recommended when a period of non-surgical treatment i.e., medicines and physiotherapy has not relieved the painful symptoms. Spine surgery was traditionally done as open surgery, which means the area which is to be operated was opened by a long incision to expose the bone and nerves. In recent years however, technological advances have allowed back and neck problems to be treated in minimally invasive way.
A lot of spine problems can be treated by key hole surgery. Some of these are listed below.
Now let's see how is this surgery is performed. We all know that spinal nerves, vertebrae and the discs are located deep inside the body and, to reach there, the muscles have to be kept out of the way. This is done by using a tubular retractor which sequentially dilates the muscles as opposed to cutting it in an open technique. By using tubes to keep muscles out of way, a surgeon can work through the incision without exposing the area widely. Surgeons also uses an endoscope or a microscope while doing this surgery. This makes the surgery very safe. Once the procedure is complete, the tubular retractor is removed allowing the dilated tissues to fall in their normal position.
Depending upon the patient condition, in some of the spinal diseases, it is necessary to place rods and screws to stabilize the patient's spine. Traditional surgeries for placement of screws require extensive removal of muscles and other tissues from the spine. However, percutaneous placement typically involves inserting rods and screws through very small incisions without damaging the muscles over the spine. This is made possible by initially placing the guide wires through which the screws are placed through a extensive modernized instrumentation technique.
Minimally invasive technique is far better as compared to open technique in following ways:
But it should be made clear that this is a very new technology and lots of extensive training is required to perform this surgery.
(This article is authored by Dr Pallav Bhatia, Spine Surgeon, Lokmanya Hospitals, Pune)
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